clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Aston Villa Transfer Rumors: Ashley Young's Price Tag Set At £18 Million?

There's nothing in print just yet, but from Ben Smith of the Times comes this interesting little tidbit:

Ashley Young will hold talks with #AVFC owner Randy Lerner tomorrow. Will allow him to leave for £18m. #MUFC clear favourites nowless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply

That seems like a pretty decent price, even if I was hoping for a bit more. Let's assume that Smith is correct here; if Manchester United are the club Ashley wants to play for and they're willing to meet the club's valuation, this likely becomes official as soon as the window opens. That's a positive for all parties, as United get Young into the club early on (perhaps even in enough time for their summer tour of the United States) and Villa have a whole lot more money to spend right at the outset. It's at least theoretically possible that if Villa's managerial hire impresses Young enough he'd choose to stick around, but it would likely take quite the bombshell for that to be the case.

Even if Smith isn't spot on here, there's been nothing to indicate that Ashley is likely to stay, that United aren't the most likely destination and that whoever wants him will need to cough up £15-£20 million in order to bring him in. If Young does meet with Lerner tomorrow, I'd imagine the most exciting thing that could possibly result from their talk would be the club officially acknowledging his request to leave. The only interesting thing here is the price tag, and remember what we got the last time we had £18 million to spend? Ashley will be missed, but that's a whole lot of money and this club has some pretty massive holes to fill.