If you were asked back in the summer to predict who would be Manchester United’s most important players this season, far down the list would have been Ashley Young – a player who many assumed wouldn’t survive the transfer window at Old Trafford upon entering the final year of his contract, especially after making just 12 Premier League appearances and failing to occupy a specific role within the squad during Jose Mourinho’s first campaign in charge.
But twelve Premier League fixtures into the new season and Young has made as many or more starts than Eric Bailly, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba, Chris Smalling, Anthony Martial and last season’s Player of the Year Ander Herrera. Perhaps more significantly considering the left-back role he’s quickly made his own, the England international has also made more Premier League starts than Daley Blind, Luke Shaw and Matteo Darmian combined.
Over the first few months of the campaign, he’s become one of the first names on Mourinho’s team sheet and one of United’s most dependable performers – sudden that status has been recognised and rewarded respectively by a first England appearance in four years against Brazil and the extension of a contract that sees him earn £130k per-week by an extra year – and that’s justified by the statistics.
Indeed, Young has consistently delivered the extra attacking verve you’d expect of a winger converted into a full-back, providing two assists from seven left-back outings while averaging more than one key pass, accurate cross and dribble per match.
That’s not only comparative within United’s squad, ranking in the top five on all three aspects, but throughout the Premier League as well. Only one player to make more than six appearances at left back or left wing-back this season has averaged more dribbles per match than Young, while he makes the top five for key passes and crosses as well.
The latter return is particularly pivotal for the second-tallest side in the Premier League, who have scored the third-most headers this season. Only seven Premier League players in all positions have averaged more accurate crosses per match than Young when at left-back, and only five have produced more assists from crosses.
Young may be entering the twilight of his career, but when cutting inside and crossing with his right foot from deep, he still offers one of the deadliest deliveries in the Premier League.
Young’s sudden vibrancy in the new role owes as much to the changing dynamics of the Premier League and the greater faith Mourinho now places in his side defensively as the 32-year-old’s obvious revival in form. The new emphasis on offensive contribution has completely transformed how we judge full-backs over the last few seasons, while the solidity Matic, Pogba, Bailly and Phil Jones have given United has perhaps convinced Mourinho to risk a more attacking option at left-back, in comparison to the more study styles of Blind and Darmian.
However, to focus on tactical trends entirely would be to ignore Young’s hard work in modifying and adapting his game to the position. Alongside his impact going forward, the veteran wideman has consistently fulfilled the defensive side of his game too. In fact, from his seven performances at left-back in the top flight, he’s averaged the most interceptions and third-most tackles of any United player, while ranking in the top six on both fronts for left-backs throughout the entire division.
And it shouldn’t be underestimated how seismic that transformation has been. After all, this is a player who was used as a striker at Watford and earned a £20million move to Old Trafford by twice winning spots in the Premier League’s Team of the Season as Aston Villa’s potent winger.
He’s now one of the Premier League’s top performing defenders in both offensive and defensive terms, a transition that was epitomised perfectly by Young’s first action for England in four years earlier this month; coming off the bench to race from left wing-back to the right channel and put in a last-ditch sliding tackle to stop Brazil’s Willian from a shot at goal.
It inevitably changes perceptions of a player once deemed among the bigger flops of Sir Alex Ferguson’s final few years at Old Trafford and once mostly famed for being a serial simulator.
The 31-cap international’s Indian summer at United has not only demonstrated the quality he’s always had – which, in turn, raises the question of what could have been had his opening Red Devils campaigns not been blighted by recurring injuries – but also a grittiness and determination many assumed an easy-falling winger naturally lacked.
We’ve not only seen that in Young’s surprising defensive resilience this season, but also through the manner in which he’s survived at Old Trafford, continuously fighting throughout two seasons that saw him make his least appearances for the club to eventually emerge as the first choice in what has been Mourinho’s most problematic position since taking the United job.
Inevitably, Young doesn’t represent a long-term solution to United’s left-back problem at the age of 32. It always feels as if a lack of defensive experience will catch up with him at some point and even if it doesn’t, Young’s age surely will over the next year or so. But Young has shown he can be trusted at least until the end of the season, so amid rumours of United moving for Tottenham’s Danny Rose in January, you have to wonder whether the Tottenham man is worth the investment mid-season.
After all, the actual difference Rose would make to Mourinho’s side becomes contentious in light of Young’s form and the coming transfer window is perhaps United’s best opportunity of finding a way to gain ground on Manchester City in the title race.
While an attacking player of the top-class variety could win United an extra handful of points during the second half of the season, the gaps between what Rose can produce and what Young has produced this season are reducing by the game.
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