Yahoo News 'Begged' to stay and 'tapped up' by Steven Gerrard - Ashley Young reveals all about Aston Villa exit
Ashley Young has admitted he was 'begged' to remain an Aston Villa player as he completed a £17m transfer to Manchester United in 2011 - and was even 'tapped up' by Steven Gerrard in a last-ditch attempt to make him sign for rivals Liverpool instead.
Young had been a Villa player for more than four years having signed from Watford, and had one year remaining on his deal. The club had enjoyed European success during those years, though with the growing financial might of others meant the task of qualification was becoming no easier.
So, there was a decision to make when United and others swooped for his signature, and the rest is history. Appearing as a guest on Sky Sports Monday Night Football to analyse his former club's 4-0 loss to Crystal Palace, the winger-turned-full-back has just now disclosed some of the details around the move away from Villa Park.
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"I spoke to [chairman] Randy Lerner and he begged me to stay for my final season and said 'listen, if we don’t do anything this season you have my blessing to go'," he explained.
"To be fair, he was exactly right with what he said and I had so much respect for him. He even called me to come over and sit down with me. We were not able to get Aston Villa to where we felt we could have gone, and then I was able to move from there.
"I heard of United’s interest the season before I left Aston Villa."
At this point regular pundit Jamie Carragher enquired: "Did they [Man United] tap you up?"
"No, definitely not," the 38-year-old replied. "I’d heard of the interest and you hear from your agent talking about interest and there was interest from others as well.
"I tell you who did try to tap me up - Stevie [Steven Gerrard] tried to tap me up. He rang me up and said, ‘are you leaving Aston Villa?’ And I said yeah. He told me that I should come to Liverpool and I said 'yeah, I’ll come back to you'. I had already spoken to United at that time and I was already going, so sorry Stevie."
As well as the former Villa boss up to behind-the-scenes tricks during his playing days, he revealed Manchester City made their interest known. "But for me," Young concluded, "the factor of going to Manchester United was the size of the club, and who I call the boss now, Sir Alex [Ferguson]. It was the pull and to be able to go and speak to him, he was the one who got me to the club. It was everything I wanted to hear and go and play for them."
Young went on to make 261 appearances for United over a nine-year period, winning six major trophies. He would depart for Inter Milan in 2020 before returning to Villa between 2021 and 2023, and is now part of Sean Dyche's Everton squad having moved to Goodison Park last summer.
