Aston Villa: Luke Young comes to terms with his grief by training

Nov 10 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

But a troublesome thigh injury forced him to return home prematurely from the summer Peace Cup tournament in Spain and it went from bad to worse for the 30-year-old.

Young was given compassionate leave by manager Martin O’Neill to mourn the death of his brother and he has since tried to cope with his grief by returning to training.

“I came back in pre-season looking forward to the new campaign,” he said.

“I felt I could improve on my performances of the previous season. I had the bit between my teeth and a real determination to succeed.

“I then picked up niggling thigh injuries that I couldn’t get rid of and then obviously the family bereavement which was difficult to get over.

“But I’ve been ready for quite a while now just itching for a chance.

“I’ve been running around in training trying to show I’m fit and ready to play. It’s been disappointing and frustrating really.”

Villa have employed summer signing Habib Beye and central defender Carlos Cuellar at right-back during Young’s absence and the likeable Londoner has had to remain patient.

“Circumstances got me a game on Saturday with suspensions and injuries and hopefully I did alright,” he added.

“You never know how fit you are going to be.

“You can train and do as many running exercises as you want midweek, it’s when you get into a game situation that you’re not sure where you’re going to be, especially in the Premier League.

“I have been back training for a while now and training really, hard.

“But I couldn’t get straight back into the team because the lads were doing so well and rightfully there was no room at the inn for me.

“There was nowhere for me to go really. That was frustrating, being ready to play, but having to wait for your opportunity.”