Ashley Young till 2012? Yes please!

By: Martini Extra Dry | November 4th, 2008

Villa’s star winger, Ashley Young, yesterday signed a new contract to keep him at the club until 2012, during which he will earn a reported £70,000 a week. Not a bad rate of pay to you and me, but in the world of ridiculous footballer’s wages (by comparison) he deserves it. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with the ludicrous amount of money footballers earn (whilst the rest of us down here have to scrimp and save and shop at Netto through the credit crunch!), but Ashley is a superb player and if we don’t reward him, some other club will. Come the summer, I think there would’ve been significant interest from one of the big boys or Man City. Hopefully we should have him nailed now.

Talking to local rag, the Sunday Mercury, Young said:

“Am I happy to commit myself to Villa? Definitely.

“I am an ambitious person and I can achieve what I want to at Villa. I have a lot of things I want to do in my career and Villa will help me do that.

“I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t think I could make myself a better player. The coaches have brought my game on leaps and bounds.”

When he came to Villa he was a good striker, who had shone out in a poor Watford side. The transfer fee was widely regarded as way too much, but Martin O’Neill clearly saw a lot of potential in him and fought against other clubs as his pricetag rose and eventually secured Young’s signature. Since joining Villa, Young was turned from a good player into a great player, making the left wing his new home and adapting to the role very quickly.

Also in the Mercury, Martin O’Neill commented:

“Ashley has three years left to run on his contract and while we paid Watford an awful lot of money for him, we didn’t pay a lot to him.

“After what he has done over the past 18 months, I felt we should change that. He has earned it.”

The young attacker’s England prospects are still anticipated by all Villa fans, the upcoming friendly against Germany being a perfect opportunity to see if Fabio Capello has finally realised what a talent he is.

Fair play to Ashley, but also to Martin O’Neill for such a shrewd purchase.