Ashley Young at United – Slippery Snip or Expensive Bench Warmer?

By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London

Ashley Young’s arrival at Old Trafford has been met with mixed reaction amongst Manchester United fans. At around £15m some say he’s good value English talent when compared to the £20m Liverpool paid to bring in Jordan Henderson from Sunderland, but could he end up being a £15m bench warmer?

The major bone of contention seems to be the conundrum of where he will fit in at United. In Nani and Valencia, Ferguson already has two of the Premier League’s best wingers and it’s hard to see how Young will go about displacing either of the pair. Young was utilized predominantly on the left wing for Villa, but this is the wing that Nani plays on when Valencia is fit.

The chances of Fergie dropping Valencia in favor of Young are fairly slim. The Ecuadorian winger has been in fine form since returning at the tail-end of last season from a horrific leg break against Rangers. He offers United the perfect out-ball from defence with his searing pace and impressive upper-body strength. He can muscle players of the ball and bustle his way to the byline – a tactic that Young’s slight frame denies him from employing. His development in the last couple of years has been impressive and his ability to provide an end product on a consistent basis has improved massively.

If Valencia is to keep his place in the starting XI then Young must push out Nani. Had Young signed at this time last season, then most fans would have probably fancied his chances at achieving this. However, Nani has had a brilliant season in which he scored 9 goals and ended as the Premier League’s top provider with 18 assists. When Rooney was struggling for form in the first half of the season, Nani kept United in the hunt for trophies almost single-handedly at times. His form did drop toward the end of the season, culminating in his omission from the Champions League final starting XI, but his overall performance levels across the season as a whole cannot be overlooked.

Young’s best bet at pushing out Nani is that he is a more accomplished player on the left wing. Even though he is not naturally left-footed, he can still provide crosses with either foot and is more likely to provide a telling cross than his Portuguese counterpart who all-too-often cuts back inside onto his right foot and unleashes a thunderbolt into row Z. Fergie doesn’t often employ two orthodox wingers in his line-up, though. The game-plan is usually to dominate the midfield, and this is hard to do with two players constantly hugging the touchline. One thing Fergie is sure to demand of Young is more tracking back and more desire to win the ball back once possession has been lost.

Word on the grapevine is that Nani might be unhappy at United and is fed up with being left on the bench, especially for big games such as the CL final. Newspaper reports seem to indicate that Juventus have been sniffing around and that they might be weighing up a bid to test the waters at Old Trafford. It would seem foolhardy for Ferguson to let him go, though. He proved how much of an attacking threat he can be last season and his assist record stands for itself. It would be a waste of all those years of development if he were to be cast away just when it looks as if he is coming into full bloom. True, he can be infuriating to watch at times; still too often picking the wrong choice when the ball is at his feet, but he is also capable of that moment of pure magic that can change a game. Not many players have that.

Young can also play as a second striker, but again it seems that this is a position that United have already got ample cover in. Rooney tends to play as a second striker a lot of the time, either supporting Berbatov or Hernandez. There’s no way Young would replace Rooney – that is simply out of the question. He will also never replace out-and-out strikers like Berbatov and Hernandez. Young is a good finisher, just as he proved against Switzerland in England’s recent Euro 2012 qualifier, but his main threat as a forward is his pace, and United already have that in their speedy Gonzalez Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez who looks set to build further his promising striking relationship with Rooney in the coming season.

On all fronts, then, it looks very much as if Young is trumped by the players that United already have. Competition for places is always a healthy thing, but whoever is left out is going to be unhappy, and that is something that Fergie will have to control in the dressing room. Manchester United and England fans alike will be hoping that Ferguson and United can develop Young into the accomplished winger that he has so long promised to be, but as he knocks on the door of his 26^th birthday, there’s not much time left for development. World-class winger or skilled substitute – only time will tell.