Manchester United sign England winger Ashley Young from Aston Villa on five-year contract

Manchester United have completed the £16 million signing of England winger Ashley Young from Aston Villa.

Red Devil: England winger Ashley Young has swapped Villa for United Photo: AFP 

The 25 year-old has agreed a five-year contract at Old Trafford to become Sir Alex Ferguson’s second signing of the summer.

United had agreed a fee with Villa and personal terms with the player before he departed on holiday earlier this month and the club confirmed this afternoon that Young had passed a medical held at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hospital yesterday.

Young will link up with his new team-mates when United return to pre-season training early next month and can expect to be joined by Phil Jones, a £16.5m capture from Blackburn, and David De Gea, the Spanish U21 international goalkeeper who is widely expected to join United when the international transfer window opens on July 1.

The three players form part of Ferguson’s most thorough overhaul of his playing resources since the summer of 1995, when a host of senior players departed to make way for Paul Scholes, David Beckham and the rest of the Fergie’s Fledglings generation.

The Scot is also hopeful of adding a central midfielder, with Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and Samir Nasri thought to be among his priorities.

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Young’s move to Old Trafford completes a stellar rise for the Stevenage-born forward. Young was rejected from Watford’s youth academy as a teenager but eventually managed to earn a contract at the club, making his debut in 2003.

He impressed in the opening six months of the club’s solitary season in the Premier League before moving to Aston Villa for £9.75m in Jan 2007.

Under the guidance of Martin O’Neill, Young emerged as one of Villa’s key creative forces, scoring 30 goals in 157 appearances across his four years at Villa Park, as well as securing a regular England place.