Ashley Young

Ashley Young is an English professional footballer, born on 9 July 1985 in Stevenage, England.

He plays for English club Manchester United and the England national football team.

Young plays as a left midfielder, however he can also operate as a full back.

Ashley Young is a versatile player and can play different roles he has played as striker and also has false 9 behind the striker.

He has the modern day tools to be a great aggressive defender who secures the ball at the back but can also make forceful runs in the opponent's third.

Background

Ashley was interested in football from a very young age. When he was 10 he joined the youth academy of Watford, however he struggled to keep par with the standards and was not handed the scholarship.

Young did not give up on his dream and stuck with club, eventually he got his break through and trained with the under 18 team and later advanced through the age ranks.

Debut

Young made his debut for Watford against Millwall in September 2003. He came on as a substitute to score his first senior goal for the club.

Young got a call up for International duty in August 2007 for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Rise to Glory

Young made a good number of appearances for Watford in the 2004-05 season and was also recognized by the Young player of the season award.

In the 2005-06 season Young made 41 appearances and scored 15 goals. He was really coming to form and improved quite a lot which showed from his games.

Ashley also had a pretty decent next season. He made 98 appearances in all competitions for his time at Watford and scored on 19 occasions.

Young moved to Aston Villa on 23 January 2007 mid season. In the 2007-08 season, Young played really well and had already managed a few Man of the match performances. He also was second on the assists leaderboard with 19 to his name.

The englishman started the 2008-09 season on a positive note. He scored a brace against Birmingham City, winning the match 5-1.

Young played 48 matches and had scored 9 goals and assisted 11 times. He also won the Premier League Player of the Month award in October 2008. In December Young scored another brace against Everton in a 3-2 victory.

He deservingly won the Premier League Player of the Month award for December and January and become the first player to win three awards in a year.

Young was made the vice-captain of Aston Villa in the 2010–11 season. He made a total of 157 appearances for the english side and scored on 30 occasions.

Ashley joined Manchester United on 23 June 2011, however the transfer was not stated in public but was rumored to be around £20 million. Young was bought by the club for becoming a regular squad player, he appeared in 33 games in the 2011-12 season, scoring 8 goals and bagging in 12 assists.

In the 2015-16 season, Young contributed in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace winning the trophy 2-1. Although Young was played regularly in Mourinho’s reign in the 2016-17 season, he did captain The Red Devils against Chelsea and won the match with two goals to one.

On 28 November 2017, Young scored two goals against his ex club Watford. United won the match 4-2. Young helped England in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, he also played in the main tournament and helped the team reach the quarterfinals.