Monday, May 09, 2011

Dalglish To Raid Villa For England Midfield Pair

Liverpool is set to raid Aston Villa for the clubs two England wingers Ashley Young and Stewart Downing who have both enjoyed am impressive season with the midlands club.

Former Watford midfielder Ashley Young is a long term target of Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish and appears likely to leave at the end of the season after refusing to enter into negotiations to sign a new contract.

With just one year remaining on his current deal it appears as though Villa will have to cash in on their talented winger, rather than risk losing him on a free at the end of next season.

Liverpool are not the only club interested in the 25-year-old with Sir Alex Ferguson also known to be a huge admirer of Young, while Spurs were also linked with the winger during the January transfer window.

While many expect Young to leave Villa Park in the summer, the future of Downing is still up in the air with Villa manager Gerard Houllier desperate to get the former Middlesbrough winger to sign a new contract.

With Houllier currently in hospital, caretaker boss Gary McAllister has reiterated the importance of trying to tie down Downing to a new long term contract.

"Of course, there’s two years left and we are getting into that area where it’s coming into our vision," revealed McAllister. “It’s in progress at the moment. We are starting to make contact with his agent.

“That’s something we’re looking at all the time. It’s been a very mixed season but I’ve got to say Stewart Downing’s consistency, especially for a forward in a team that hasn’t been playing as well as it can, would make him my pick as player of the season."

The pair have both been in fantastic form for much of the season, despite Villa struggling at the wrong end of the table and Villains defender Luke Young admitted that clubs are circling as they attempt to lure the duo away.

"Stewart has been brilliant, he is showing the form and you've got bigger clubs sniffing at him and it's going to be difficult for us to keep him," said the former Middlesbrough defender.

"Clubs are circling for Ashley as well so it's going to be a difficult summer for us and hopefully we can keep hold of both of them, we certainly wouldn't want to lose both of them."

Liverpool proved in the January transfer window that they were prepared to spend large amounts of money to bring the right players to the club and now Kenny Dalglish wants to bring wingers to Anfield to compliment his new strike force.

Should the Reds attempt to land the England midfielders then it is believed that they would need to bid in the region of £20million for Young and £10m for Downing.

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