Ashley Young eyeing a new deal at Aston Villa
Ashley Young expressed his desire to stay at Villa with the club expected to make a decision on his future this week.
Unai Emery will sit down with sporting director Johan Lange and the club’s owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens to finalise plans for the summer window with a decision on whether to offer Young a new contract top of their list.
The 37-year-old, who has enjoyed an excellent season, made clear his feelings when interviewed on the pitch following yesterday’s win over Brighton, which sealed Villa’s return to European competition.
Young, part of the squad when the club last played in the Europa League in 2010, said: “For me, you have to ask the manager and the owner. But I want to stay.”
The wideman was an unused substitute in the victory against the Seagulls but started more than half of Villa’s Premier League fixtures.
He added: “We were in Europe the last time I was here and it’s magnificent [to be back]. The manager came in and look at the table then and look at where we are now.
“I just want to thank all the fans for being here week in and week out.
“Since the manager has come in we’ve got further and further up the table and the fans have always been the 12th man. Hopefully we see them in Europe.”
Emery confirmed preparations for next season will begin almost immediately. He said: “I will now start preparing for next season. I will speak to the club.
“The club is working and I’m keeping in touch with the possibilities we can add [signings] for next year; speaking about who we can add and take the decision with players we already have here.
“It was very important to be focused for this match. But we’ll start now thinking about the next project and be stronger than we have been.
“Do we need more players? I don’t know exactly. Of course, we can add 10, 12, 15 matches more.
“When I came here I was thinking about trying to be strong in the Premier League. It was the first competition. Again, I wanted to add possibilities to win trophies; Carabao Cup, FA Cup and, now, if we could add Europe in our way as well.
“It’s another way to win a trophy in the Conference. We have to analyse everything as best as possible about how we can create and build our structure with the players in our squad.”
