Liverpool edge ahead of Manchester United in £15m race for Ashley Young

Posted Wednesday, May 11, 2011 by theguardian.com

• England forward set to leave Aston Villa this summer
• Charlie Adam, Gary Cahill and Phil Jones also on shopping list

Liverpool edge ahead of Manchester United in £15m race for Ashley Young
Ashley Young is a target for Manchester United and Liverpool this summer.

Liverpool's owner, Fenway Sports Group, is increasingly confident of following the imminent appointment of Kenny Dalglish as the club's permanent manager by beating Manchester United to the signature of the Aston Villa forward Ashley Young.

Dalglish's confirmation as the long-term successor to Roy Hodgson is a formality having taken the club from 12th in the Premier League to the brink of European qualification inside four months and is expected to be announced before the end of the season.

Several FSG officials, notably the principal owner, John W Henry, and Liverpool's chairman, Tom Werner, have voiced their support for the 60-year-old Scot and backed him on the combined £57.8m purchases of Andy Carroll and Luis Suárez in January. They are now pursuing Young, another target of Dalglish and the director of football, Damien Comolli, and have emerged as favourites to sign the £15m-rated England international despite competition from United, the Premier League champions-elect.

Young enters the final year of his Villa contract this summer having rejected the offer of an improved deal, which contained a get-out clause in the region of £15m, at the start of this season. The 25-year-old insisted on delaying talks with Villa over a contract extension until this campaign had ended but his employers are privately resigned to losing the player four years after his £9.65m arrival from Watford.

United and Liverpool are vying for Young's services but the prospect of a significant increase on his £65,000-a-week Villa salary at Anfield, plus more regular first-team football than he may receive at Old Trafford, is understood to have tilted the contest in Dalglish's favour.

United are only one point away from overtaking Liverpool on 19 league titles and can guarantee Champions League football next term but, unlike their Anfield rivals, they are well-stocked on the left and right of midfield and in Young's preferred position behind the lead striker. The chance to establish himself in a team with renewed momentum under Dalglish is believed to have tempted Young towards Liverpool.

Dalglish and Comolli are also keen on Young's team-mate Stewart Downing, whose performances have eclipsed the Stevenage-born forward at Villa Park this season. Although Villa are loth to lose either player and have proved to be tough negotiators under Randy Lerner, as Liverpool and Manchester City can testify over their moves for Gareth Barry and James Milner respectively, Young's contractual situation has left them little room for manoeuvre once a tempting bid arrives.

Young forms part of an ambitious spending programme planned by FSG for this summer, an added appeal for a player who has established himself in the England set-up, with Blackpool's Charlie Adam still on Liverpool's agenda following a thwarted move in January and a new central defender among the targets. Bolton's Gary Cahill and Phil Jones of Blackburn are under consideration.

Enticing Young to Anfield, and away from Old Trafford, would be a further indication of Liverpool's determination to offer a sterner challenge to Sir Alex Ferguson's domination of the Premier League than they have managed for much of the past two decades.

Jamie Carragher has paid tribute to United as they close in on an English record 19th league title and concedes there must be improvement within Anfield to prevent their fierce rivals moving further ahead. "You have to give Manchester United great credit. They will be worthy champions and we will congratulate them," the Liverpool vice-captain said. "But losing the record is not something we are going dwell on. Of course it is disappointing and frustrating but the only way we can change it for the better is by looking after ourselves.

"We are not a club that wants to rely on others for help. Liverpool has never been that way and never will be. We don't want to be looking to Chelsea or Arsenal or anyone else to stop United winning the title. If we want to be seen as the most successful club in the country again, we've got to do it on our own.

"We've won a couple more European Cups than Manchester United but if we want to preserve that record, we've got to win our own European Cups. That's the way it is. We can't go blaming anyone else for the fact United look like they are going to win a 19th title."