No rush to seal deal on Ashley Young
MARTIN O’Neill has denied weekend reports that Ashley Young has signed a new four-year contract but remains optimistic an agreement can be reached with his influential winger.
“Nothing has been agreed but we are in negotiation,’’ O’Neill said.
The Villa boss aims to use the 12 days between now and the trip to Tottenham on September 15 to make headway on a number of contractual issues in the dressing room.
But at the same time he insists there is no rush to complete Young’s negotiations because of the length of time remaining on his current deal.
“I can spend the next week-and-a-half dealing with the issues I have wanted to deal with,’’ he said.
“That means looking at the players who have got two years or less and those who I would like to keep at the football club.
“The best time to do it is to open those negotiations now. I have already spoken to Ashley’s agent, so we will see where we go.
“I am hoping he is enjoying himself well enough here and that he would like to stay.
“He still has three years left to run. So it is not a major problem.”
Young was left out of Fabio Capello’s England squad to face Andorra and Croatia with O’Neill adamant the £9million ace will be an integral member of the squad by the time the World Cup comes around.
“I am surprised but his time will come. Ashley would not be worrying himself about it – not at all.
“If and when England qualify for the World Cup I am sure he will be on the plane to South Africa.
“He will be an old man by then though. He’ll be at least 24!”
Meanwhile, Young is set to be handed a few days to rest up before Villa’s hectic fixture schedule kicks in after the trip to Tottenham.
Villa play Spurs and Albion and a UEFA Cup qualifier in Bulgaria within a six-day period after the international break. It marks a crucial part of the season for the club.
“If you divided things up you would find that every fortnight is really important,’’ said O’Neill.
“First of all we have to wait on players coming back. We have left players in reasonably good shape and we might be minus a couple of players after international matches.
“I think that is the frustrating thing. You just don’t know.
“Players are away and we won’t see them until at least next Friday – the players who will be playing two games. That is a fairly lengthy time. So yes, we will certainly look at resting players this week. Ashley, for instance, not being in the England squad.
“There will be a few players who have played the games and I will give them a few days.”
