Aston Villa should hand Ashley Young a new contract as stats show he’s better with age
As Aston Villa approach the final game of their season there are still some question marks over the future of veteran defender Ashley Young.
The former England international is out of contract at the end of the season and could make his final appearance for the club when Villa face off against Brighton on Sunday, with the hope that a win could secure European football for next season.
Unai Emery has done a magnificent job since joining, steering the club away from a relegation battle into a fight for Europe, and during his pre-match press conference before the game he admitted that Young’s future is yet to be decided.
“I spoke with him on Tuesday, I told him we are going to decide after the match on Sunday and we’ll talk with the owners and I will analyse deeply each [player] situation,” he said, as quoted by Birmingham Mail (26 May).
“His contract is finishing and he’s the first player we have to speak with.
“I told him to be first focused on the match on Sunday; we were remembering he played in the Europa League final four years ago for Manchester United against Sevilla.
“He has a lot of experience in Europe, playing in good matches and in good moments in his career. We have the opportunity now to get there again with Aston Villa. Then we will decide for every individual circumstance in the squad.”
A new deal is surely well deserved after his performances this season too, and the stats according to WhoScored seem to prove that too.
In a direct comparison between this season and last season, Young is outshining himself in almost every department.
He has made more appearances, scored more goals, made more tackles per 90mins, averaged more interceptions, more clearances and made more blocks. Despite being 37 years old, he is clearly still improving as a defender.
Going forward the stats are going in the opposite direction, although he has featured far more as a full-back this season than as a winger which he did on occasion under Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard last year.
Last season he had twice as many assists (2) as this season (1), and he has managed more successful dribbles per game (0.4) than he did last season too.
He was also dispossessed fewer times and while he has averaged the same amount of key passes per game this season (0.5) as he did last season, he did it in less games.
However it’s quite clear that his improvement under Emery has been big, especially defensively and on the ball.
Young has averaged more passes per game with 33.3 compared to 21.6 last season, while he has also played more successful through balls and successful long balls too.
His experience is vital for this changing room and his leadership is clearly valued by everyone at the club.
Until he starts declining there is no need to get rid of him because he’s clearly capable of performing the job that the manager wants him to, and that means a new deal should be on the cards.
In other Aston Villa news, Stan Collymore is wrong about letting this player leave Villa Park.