Luke Young Going to Liverpool

[Drummond]

From Grauniad.co.uk

Liverpool agree fee of £2.5m for Aston Villa's Luke Young

Liverpool have made a surprise move for the Aston Villa full-back Luke Young. Roy Hodgson, the Liverpool manager, tried to sign Young earlier this year when he was in charge of Fulham and he has now rekindled his interest in the former England international. Liverpool have agreed a £2.5m fee for a player who has been told he is surplus to requirements at Villa Park.

Although Hodgson's pursuit of Young might raise a few eyebrows among Liverpool supporters, the 31-year-old is able to operate in both full-back positions and was asked to represent England as recently as last November, when Fabio Capello failed to persuade the defender to reverse the decision he made earlier that year to retire from international football with seven caps to his name. He would also increase Liverpool's quota of homegrown players to comply with the new Premier League rule.

Liverpool are also short of options in the full-back positions because Emiliano Insúa is set to join Fiorentina and Fábio Aurélio has left the club on a free transfer. Philipp Degen, the Switzerland right-back, has also been told that he can look for another club after meeting with Hodgson last week.

Villa have been keen to offload Young as he is one of the club's higher earners and has three years remaining on his contract. Sunderland had also expressed an interest in signing Young this summer but were unable to match his personal terms.

Villa's decision to make Young available for transfer came as a disappointment to many of the club's supporters. Having joined Villa from Middlesbrough in a £5.5m deal two years ago, Young performed well in his first season but his start to the following campaign was curtailed through a combination of injury and personal tragedy, when Andre, his 17-year-old half-brother, was found dead on holiday.

Young eventually came back into the Villa side but made only 14 Premier League starts and was ultimately unable to dislodge Carlos Cuéllar, an orthodox central defender, from the right-back position. He remained a popular figure among the Villa supporters, however, and was given a standing ovation when he appeared as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers in the final match of the season.

[dave.woodhall]

http://www.heroesandvillains.info/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=37505&start=7305

[Risso]

Hi chaps, as we did last summer, we've decided that if there's a transfer story that looks like it has a bit more substance to it, we'll have a seperate thread rather than losing them in the general madness of the transfer nonsense thread.

(Anything in the Daily Sodding Mirror can stay in the big thread though!)

So, Luke Young to Liverpool then.....

[stevenjos]

Good Luck Luke, another casualty of Martins tactical madness.

[stevo_st]

As many have said before; good player, performed well on the pitch for us at rb & lb, will be sad to see him leave but can't blame him for wanting a move.

[sfx412]

What I find odd about this is Mon's comments that they are leaving it up to Young to decide what he wants to do.

Now I have often wondered about Young and his motivation, especially following his brothers tragic death, but here he is sitting at a club whose manager, despite his protestations, refuses to play him , seemingly no longer gets on with him and a club, who have the likes of Gerrard, Torres and now Cole, who are desperately short of full backs, with the Manager of the Year in charge wants him.
Seems a no brainer to me.

We've even agreed the loss on him seemingly fee wise. Why's he hanging around ?

[willywombat]

Dont get this at all, best right back at the club and amongst the best in the Premiership imo. Really want to trust in MO'N but just dont understand why we're selling him.

[Dave]

Nuts that we are letting him to go.

Liverpool get a better right-back than they currently have and a better left-back than they currently have all for the price of one player.

[TimTheVillain]

Another personality clash ?

[Concrete John]

Good player and want him to stay, but I share the feeling that something hasn't been quite right since his brother's death.

Although I rate him I don't think he's so good that we can't buy a younger version, so I'll judge if it's right or wrong once we see who the replacement is.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

Stupid stupid decision Villa!

[eastie]

Lukes on decent wages here so I suppose he will want similar before joining Liverpool, he lost his place long before his brothers death, shortly after moaning to the press about his dislike of playing left back- that's more likely why mon dropped him.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

TBF he is a better right back than Cuellar, I can understand why he was peeved about being dropped from his favoured position for someone not as good at it.

MON must have the wrong lenses in his glasses, because he just cannot see what others can.

[Mazrim]

Good player and want him to stay, but I share the feeling that something hasn't been quite right since his brother's death.

Although I rate him I don't think he's so good that we can't buy a younger version, so I'll judge if it's right or wrong once we see who the replacement is.

Yes, I would agree with this. Hopefully his replacement isnt Carlos Cuellar who does a fine job when occasionally called upon but not a regular fixture there please.

[pauliewalnuts]

Good, solid professional.

Not the sort of player we ideally want to find ourselves having to replace if it can be avoided. Still, fall out with MON, and this is where you end up.

That's the manager's prerogative, though, and if he wants to run things that way, that's his shout.

So long as his grudges don't end up costing us, because if they do, we'll know where to point the finger