Former Liverpool target Luke Young feels he is a better player for staying at Aston Villa

Dec 3 2010 Mat Kendrick

FORMER Liverpool target Luke Young is ready to face the team he snubbed next week after admitting he is recapturing form and fitness following a concerted first-team run.

Young will head to Anfield on Monday night for the first time since rejecting the close-season advances of Roy Hodgson to remain at Villa.

The versatile defender was in line for a summer transfer to the Reds after Martin O’Neill accepted a bid believed to be £2.5 million.

But after mulling over the move to Liverpool, Young decided to stay at Villa Park with boss Gerard Houllier subsequently taking him off the transfer list.

There were claims at the time that Young passed up the chance to join Liverpool because they were unable to match the wages of the remaining three years of his Villa deal.

However, the 31-year-old right-back has since insisted his choice had nothing to do with money and was because he had more chance of being a regular starter at Villa.

And Young has been proved right after a run of seven consecutive games following a slight hamstring tear which ruled him out of three matches in mid-October.