Why Luke Young snubbed Liverpool

Luke Young has admitted he is relieved to have snubbed Liverpool to stay at Villa by declaring - 'I didn't want to be sat on the sidelines.'

Young had the chance to move to Anfield during the summer, after Villa accepted a £2.5million offer from Roy Hodgson's men.

The right-back had been made available for transfer by then-manager Martin O'Neill but turned down the Reds and, speaking for the first time about his decision today, the former England international has revealed he wanted to stay at Villa Park because he felt he had a better chance of playing first-team football.

It's a decision the 31-year-old feels has been vindicated, after starting all seven of Villa's Premier League games so far this term, while the Merseyside outfit now find themselves in the bottom three.

He said: "It was obviously a difficult decision at the time.

"I had to weigh up certain things and I just felt I perhaps had more chance of getting in the first team at Villa than I did getting in the first team at Liverpool.

"At this stage of my career I didn't really want to go anywhere and, on match-day, feel I was there as a back-up.

"I pretty much knew that with Glen Johnson at Liverpool, England's first-choice right-back, I would be watching in the Premier League and maybe playing in Europe but essentially trying to force my way into a side.

"I was never convinced that I was going to Liverpool to push and play.

"This game is full of opinions, people don't take into account your own personal situation and why you decide certain things."

While Gerard Houllier's Villa sit eighth in the table, Liverpool are 18th with just one league win all term.

But Young does not expect Hodgson's team to find themselves in that position for much longer.

He said: "It hasn't gone great for them at the minute but they will be alright.

"I just had the underlying feeling that I was going there as kind of a back-up for left-back and right-back.

"So I decided to make the decision to stay."