Ash won't sign a new contract till the summer.

[Shrek]

Ash has put talks on hold till the summer.

I dunno how to add the link in, but worrying times, looks like he is doing a Rooney.

[Rigadon]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3191389/Ashley-Young-halts-Aston-Villa-contract-talks.html

[TimTheVillain]

Not good.

He's saying to the club 'prove to me that Villa are going places' and to Houllier 'prove to me that I can work with you'.

In the current climate ( God I hate that phrase) it's no great surprise.

[Rigadon]

I'd go further and say that he's saying he is off regardless.  We might as well get used to it.

All that "I have no problem with the fans" is so he continues to receive the support he does now.  He would know FULL well that him not signing now means that we get less money for him too.  This also has the mark of Harry Redknapp all over it.

 

[Nev]

There shouldn't be any hand-wringing over this, or any sort of surprise. He's hedging his bets to give himself enough options to jump ship.

[Rigadon]

Nev, absolutely.  Hand-wringing is a waste of time.  The truth is that if Man Utd can be called un-ambitious by their players then it can happen to any club.  But let's not pretend that there will be any other outcome aside from Young not signing another contract and the end game being him going to Spurs (or possibly Man City if they'll have him).

[Rigadon]

I'll also add that just last month he was talking about signing another contract.  Why has this now stopped unless of course some chap down south has made it clear he see's him in a (lilly) white shirt? 

[Walmley_Villa]

Yep old Chrchill chops has made contact imo. One thing I've seen it quoted that Ash was a Spurs fan as a boy but I thought he was a Gooner?

[badluckeric(gates)]

I for one won't be worrying about this. Quite simply after Barry then Milner, i'm all done with the hand wringing, will he won't he.
If he goes at some point then shame but so what, bigger players than him have gone and I still love my club.
Obviously don't want it to happen, but just getting more and more resigned to how it works these days.

[Rigadon]

Well said badluckericgates.

Maybe it's a case of him dropping this little leak while everyone is banging on about Rooney - good time to bury bad news and all that.

[Olneythelonely]

Yeah, he wants out.

[Concrete John]

Well, I'm not all that gloomy about this, but that's as I do NOT see it as a sign of him leaving.

We have a new manager and nobody really knows how things will go under him.  It also remains to be seen what Randy's further spending plans are after last summer's issues. 

So maybe all we're seeing is a player waiting to see exactly what he'd be signing up for were he to put pen to paper?  Sensible of him, IMO.

 

[Chris Harte]

Some of the comments after the story on the link are absurd.

A United fan saying that "Sir Alex should just sign him." Nice to see the Rooney-saga hasn't dented their arrogance.

And the guy saying Ashley improves game after game. He was at the height of his powers two seasons ago, IMO.

[Rigadon]

I admire your optimism John, but what's changed on the last month though?  He was going to sign a new contract after Houllier arrived.  But now, closer to the transfer window, he's saying he wants to wait.  Will the club risk waiting t il the summer when his transfer value has diminished due to his contract length?  This is calculated and is being driven by the payer and his agent - why say anything at all otherwise? 

[Pete3206]

He's off. This is just the start of a long, drawn out process.