Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has provided insight into the influential role that stalwart Ashley Young plays in the dressing room, which reinforces his importance in the squad.
Young, 37, has again played a key role for us this season having made 28 appearances so far, and with Matty Cash still sidelined by injury, the versatile veteran will continue to feature heavily.
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Beyond just filling in and offering cover though, he has shown great experience, leadership and consistency when involved, and with his current contract set to expire this summer, the expectation is that he will be offered another extension.
That belief is reinforced further when listening to Emery speak about him, with the Villa boss revealing how important Young is for him in the dressing room with the rest of the squad, and it’s evident that he values his experience and know-how very highly in terms of the positive influence that he can have on his teammates.
“He is very important in the dressing room,” Emery is quoted as saying by The Mirror. “I am using him a lot of times when we are speaking together before matches about our experiences – my experiences and the players’ experiences. He had a lot of experiences in Manchester United and Inter Milan.
“He played in European matches, key matches, under pressure. I want to use him with his experiences to tell us about how he felt in each moment. On Sunday as well he will be important.
“Maybe he will say just three words or a short message to us. Usually before the matches I want the players as well to ask how they are feeling and how they are facing each match.
“I think football has changed. Now every player has the best preparation to get a longer career. Ashley Young is an example. I had players like this at Villarreal too. If you didn’t know his age you could think he is 28 because everyday, even as much as he is playing, he is playing very well.”
Sharing that experience and leading by example is one part of it, but the fact that Young is still performing at a high level is also vital, and those factors combined mean he is more than capable of continuing to play a pivotal role for us beyond this season.
With a balance of youth and experience, it will hopefully help us achieve our objectives both in the short-term and long-term, but Emery once again insisted that any contract talks will wait for now as there is still so much to play for this season.
Based on the comment below though, it is sounding increasingly likely that Young will stay with us for at least another year, and it would be some full-circle moment for him if we could secure a Europa League return.
“We are going to speak about him [about his contract],” he added. “Now is not the moment but of course he can extend his career longer than this year.”
