England international Ashley Young has joined Premier League champions Manchester United on a five-year contract, his former club Aston Villa announced Thursday. Young, capped 15 times by his country, underwent a medical Wednesday and the transfer, worth in the region of £16-20 million ($25-32 million), was completed Thursday. He becomes the second pre-season signing at Old Trafford after Sir Alex Ferguson brought England Under-21 international defender Phil Jones from Blackburn Rovers for £16.5 million.
Young, a 25-year-old midfielder, joined Villa from Watford in January 2007 and went on to make 190 appearances in all competitions for the Birmingham club, scoring 38 goals. “Ashley has made a terrific contribution for Villa over the past four-and-a-half seasons and everyone at the club wishes him the best for the future,” recently-appointed Villa manager Alex McLeish said. “He has become an important player in the England team during that time and I’m sure he will be looking forward to the challenge,” McLeish also told Villa’s official website. Young had previously told Villa officials he did not plan to sign an extension to his contract, due to expire next year, and that left the Midlands club with little option but to sell one of their star players or risk losing him for nothing under the Bosman ruling.