Ashley Young

During the time when David Moyes was in charge of Manchester United as the coach of the English club, the Scottish manager utilized Ashley Young on a regular basis.

After having gone through a disastrous time at Old Trafford, Moyes was sacked before even 1 year in charge and now Moyes has taken up a coaching position for Real Sociedad and the rumors are suggesting that Moyes wants to reunite with Ashley Young.

Ashley Young has been struggling with injuries but even when the English midfielder returns back to fitness, he is not expected to turn into a first choice player for Louis van Gaal who already has a wide variety of options available for him and things will turn even worse for Ashley Young after the January transfer window reaches its end as Louis van Gaal has already expressed his desire to sign a few more players.

One of the first things that David Moyes wants to do as the new coach of Real Sociedad is to strengthen his current squad and Ashley Young is on his wish-list. Taking into consideration that Real Sociedad is not a club that has a huge budget at their availability it’s expected that the Spanish will only offer to make a season long loan deal but if Ashley Young really does not play any important role in the plans of Louis van Gaal, the Dutch manager could release Young on a cut price deal.

Ashley Young is current earning €135,000 per week at Old Trafford and in order for a transfer to Real Sociedad on actually happening and working out, the English midfielder would also have to accept slash in his wages but he will certainly be getting guaranteed playing time with the Spanish club.

Manchester United have been showing a considerable improvement in form over the last few weeks.

This has seen them go unbeaten against the likes of West Brom, but Louis van Gaal’s team will be facing the biggest threat when they take on Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday. Ashley Young was a regular first-team player in the first few weeks of the campaign, but the return of Luke Shaw has forced him to settle for a place on the sidelines. He is unlikely to feature against Chelsea barring any new injuries for the Dutchman. Despite this, he is ready to contribute from the sidelines.

Young says that United go into the match with a lot of confidence and they will definitely be a force to reckon with once again. Chelsea have been the team to beat this season and they lead in the Premier League table with a considerable advantage over the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal. Even though they will be coming into the match without key players like Diego Costa and Loic Remy, they should have enough strength in depth in order to cope with those absentees. Didier Drogba, who has started in the last two matches, is likely to lead the attack. He has scored only one goal at Old Trafford previously in his career.

“I just want to play the best I can. The manager has shown faith in me and I want to go out there and play well.The injury was a setback. It’s disappointing for any player to get injured but I’m back fit now and I’m only looking ahead. I’m not looking back.The new manager has his methods and philosophy and everyone has bought into it. We’ve shown we can go into games and play different formations. We showed that again at West Brom,” said Young.

The opening match of the season for Hull City was a positive game as they clinched a narrow 1-0 triumph over Queens Park Rangers; it was just the way that Steve Bruce and his squad wanted to kickoff this season of the Premier League. A great start for a club that just barely managed to stay afloat and survive for another season in the top tier League in England.
That triumph has been the only one that Hull City has claimed so far, everything else from there has only been draws and defeats. Despite not being able to replicate another victory, Steve Bruce remains positive and seems to be fairly happy about what his squad has managed to do in these 6 Premier League matches which have been played.
“Six points doesn’t really do our start justice. We could have done with another four or five but that’s the Premier League. I suppose every manager is saying what if we’d done this or that, because it’s fine margins. I do feel we are better. The squad is better in depth but we’ve got a long, long way to go. We’ve got a huge game against Crystal Palace next Saturday, so we have to stay positive.” Hull City’s manager Steve Bruce said.
Hull City is currently located at the bottom of the Premier League standings but has managed on scoring 9 goals out of the 6 Premier League matches played, the real problem that Hull City is suffering from is the defensive section as they have a total of 11 goals.
Steve Bruce will be looking to improve the defensive department of his squad during the January transfer window by bringing in new players that can upgrade that area and help out the squad and stop them from conceding so many goals.

Ashley Young can be given a new breath of life at Manchester United after manager Louis van Gaal said that the former Aston Villa man is someone who will fit extremely well into the 3-5-2 formation that he is going to use at the club. The Dutchman was recently appointed as the replacement for David Moyes and he has straightaway changed the formation of the club, which has probably remained constant for the last two decades. United will be playing in the same formation as the one adopted by the Dutch in the World Cup 2014.
However, Van Gaal is unlikely to be without left back Luke Shaw, who could be the new wingback at the club. Due to the lack of options, the manager is likely to use Young as the replacement for the first few weeks of campaign. Shaw was signed from Southampton for around £ 30 million but he is set to miss the next four weeks due to a hamstring injury. Young has been a winger throughout his career, but he appears to have taken a step backward in the last few years since moving to United. The constant allegations of simulation certainly has not helped his case, but Van Gaal’s latest comments could hint at a new start for the England international.
“Ashley Young is a winger, but he is another type who can play wing-back and he did very well against Roma. He can play left and right side, but we shall see,” said the manager during pre-season. “It’s been good to play in the different positions. I can play in both wing-back positions and if the manager calls on me to do something I’ve got every confidence in myself,” said the player himself about his ability to be versatile across the pitch and help the team.

Arsenal has been quite active in the transfer market recently. They have already made a few signings and a few more are on the cards.

Those who are following Arsenal’s transfer activities closely would have realized that this time around, for some reason, they are going just for the players who have a big reputation in the game already.

Sanchez’s deal has been secured by the Gunners, while, Mathieu Debuchy’s deal is on the verge of getting finalized.

Now, Arsenal is looking for a midfielder who can play in a defensive role quite effectively. Lars Bender was supposed to be on the Gunners’ radar for that position, but, recently, a new name has popped up in the form of the German international Sami Khedira.

Khedira, who is presently a part of the European Cup Champions Real Madrid, is indeed a big name in the game. There is no doubt about his potential. But, he is not the fittest bloke in the world and his attitude can be very languid at times. These are the reasons why he is a bit underrated in Spain.

The second thing is his age. He is not a young man by any means and in the last 12 months, the way he has played, it seems he has started to go in the downward direction.

Obviously, whenever you are to make a new signing, you see if the player you are going for is good enough to fulfil your needs or not and Khedira ticks that box as he is definitely the kind of midfielder that the Gunners need, but, can he become a better player than he currently is? Or have his best days already passed? The Arsenal management will have to think about that too.

Borussia Dortmund has thwarted the advances of both Manchester United and Barcelona by insisting star winger Marco Reus is not for sale at any price this summer.

The Germany international had been linked with a big money move to premier League giants Arsenal as well as Spanish giants Real Madrid throughout last summer, but according to reports, new United boss Louis van Gaal is keen on adding the speedy German to the side as he looks to completely reinvent the look of the team after the disastrous results of last season.

It was recently reported that Reus, who has a contract with Dortmund until the summer of 2017, had agreed personal terms regarding a move to Barcelona. The Spanish giants are also set for a complete overhaul of the squad after failing to win a trophy last season with new manager Luis Enrique eager for some fresh faces.

But it is Manchester United and Louis van Gaal who hold the most interest in the German, who is set to miss the World Cup after suffering an ankle injury in a recent friendly match.

According to Michael Zorc, the sporting director at Borussia Dortmund, said that there is no way that the team will sell Reus this summer, no matter what the price offered for him.

Reus reportedly has a buyout clause of just £ 30 million but that will be triggered only after the conclusion of the 2014/15 season, which leaves Manchester United sweating it out to come to terms over a price for the player.

Although they plan to spend upwards of £ 200 million net this summer for a complete overhaul of the squad, paying over the odds for Reus is not on the agenda and they might have to turn to some alternative options to boost the side.

Manchester United winger Ashley Young has stated that the club is extremely disappointed after yet another home defeat – this time at the hands of Sunderland. United have had a season to forget, which resulted in the club sacking their first manager in several decades. David Moyes lost his job after just 10 months in charge of the club. Ryan Giggs was placed does the interim manager and he began life in his first managerial job in impressive fashion after winning 4-0 against Norwich. The positive aspect did not last long, as United were brought back to earth after a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland.

This was the seventh home defeat of the season for the club, which is simply not good enough for one of the world’s biggest clubs according to Young. The former Aston Villa may have been in disappointing fashion this campaign. In previous years, he has been heavily criticised for simulation. This year, he has virtually created nothing for his teammates. This has been the case with a lot of the midfielders at United. As a result, the club are expected to significantly strengthen in this position. The midfielder stated that the players are extremely disappointed with this result but he is hoping that the new season promises much better.

“I think the way we started the game, we looked on top. We knew how Sunderland would set up with men behind the ball, and that they would try to get us on the counter attack. It was disappointing to see them score that goal, and there’s a lot of disappointment in our dressing room. I don’t think we actually had a clear-cut chance. It was one of those games where if one had gone in, we would have scored more,” said Young. Sunderland ensured their safety in the league following this win.

Manchester United will visit the Allianz Arena in the midweek action to take on Bayern Munich in the second leg of the quarter-final match. This Champions League encounters of United take a 1-1 draw against the German outfit in the first leg.

Hence, they come into the second leg with a lot of confidence, which did not appear to be within the United ranks only a few weeks ago. They have the opportunity to at least salvage some pride for the season by reaching the Champions League semi-finals.

Bayern certainly have the advantage due to the away goal that they scored through Bastian Schweinsteiger.

However, winger Ashley Young feels that United have the capability to score a goal at the Allianz Arena and level the tie. Bayern Munich recently launched their formidable unbeaten record after 54 matches when they were beaten 1-0 by Augsburg during the weekend. As a result, they have not won in the last three matches. United, meanwhile, find themselves coming into form at just the right stage after they beat Newcastle 4-0 tracks to goals from Juan Mata during the weekend.

Bayern dominated the possession in the first leg, but it was United who had the better of opportunities with Danny Welbeck being denied by Manuel Neuer.

“We’re aware of Bayern’s great home record but it’s important we concentrate on ourselves and not think about that too much. We can take a lot of confidence from the first leg against Bayern; we know we can create chances and while we have to go there and score, we won’t go crazy straight away because there are 90 minutes to play. We have to make sure we take our chances and hopefully we can defend exactly as we did in the first leg,” said Young, who is expected to be replaced by Kagawa.

Crystal Palace defender Joel Ward has stated that all the players at the club are aware of Manchester United’s Ashley Young, who has a reputation for diving in order to win penalties against the opposition.

Young has been involved in several controversial penalty appeals since coming to Manchester United in a £16 million deal several years ago. Previously, he did not get the same reputation since he was at Aston Villa – a club with a much lower profile than United. Young was guilty of simulation against Crystal Palace a few years ago.

He turned out to be lucky back then, as United were given a penalty, which proved to be the difference between the two teams. Ward is keen to avoid a repeat of the same when Crystal Palace travel to Old Trafford in order to take on the United team, which is struggling to get results. Ward has stated that the players need to be aware of Young and not give him any opportunity to go down in the penalty box. Young has been warned several times by previous manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The disciplinary reaction has also been taken by current manager David Moyes, but so far it has not had any effect on the England international.

“You have to stay on your feet and not dive in and not dangle your legs. Players are always going to look for opportunities to maybe an advantage but we’ll be trying to stop him getting into those positions. It has been an interesting season at United. And they still have the players who can turn it on. It’s never a good time to play them but we’re going to turn up believing in our own ability to make sure we give them a good game,” said Ward ahead of the match.

Ashley Young says that the match against Arsenal was a good display of defense from the defending champions and in fact they could have clinched the match with a last minute goal but the super save from the Arsenal goalie did not let that happen. United has been very unstable this season and they have lost too many home matches which have led to their downfall in the Barclays Premiere League.

They are now in the seventh place in the league table with a difference of fifteen points from the league leaders Chelsea. United went to the Emirates following a 2-2 draw against Fulham in the weekend and when the fans were very disturbed about the defense the team put up a really good show against the Gunners. A win would have taken Wenger’s team to the top of the league table but they failed to crack the United defense and came close to scoring only twice with Giroud missing an easy chance in the second half.

Ashley Young who has been in and out of the United said that he is enjoying the time he is getting in the field and hopes to capitalize on that. When asked about the January transfer he said that the addition of Juan Mata has really strengthened the team and hopes to finish in the top four by the end of the season.

Although Liverpool look to be the favorites to finish in the fourth spot but young said that you may not know what can happen in the end and Liverpool may lose points. But he is also wary of the fact that United would have to overcome Tottenham Hotspurs and Everton and Liverpool in order to earn a spot for the fourth which would enable them to play the Champions League next season.