As Manchester United proceed through their tour across the United States to prepare for their upcoming English Premier League and UEFA Champions League campaigns, new signing Ashley Young is bound to get a fair share of playing time.
The winger is already getting used to life as a Red Devil and will look to take advantage of the preseason to show his boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, and his teammates that he deserves a starting spot.
“[This is a] fantastic opportunity for me to be able to come play for one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Young said. “Usually for me, preseason is not one that I want to go back into training because of all the hard work. Getting back into preseason is a little tough. But joining a new club and having a new challenge, I just wanted to get back into preseason.”
According to the former Aston Villa man, he has received a warm welcome and has used time on the pitch, including a 4-1 win over New England last week, to build chemistry with the stars on the team like Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.
“It gives you an even better feeling of the boys that have made me feel so welcome," said Young, who has yet to meet Man. United golden boy Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, but has heard plenty about the young Mexican’s skills. “Speaking to players that have played against him — obviously the center backs have played against him — they were saying how quick he was, his movement, he had that all-around game.”
With a new challenge in front of him, Young knows that the preseason games won’t be a walk in the park and says that despite the fact that they’re friendlies, Manchester United are out to win every single one.
“You always see [MLS] games whenever they’re shown on TV. You get to see how far the game’s come on,” he said. “We know we’re going to have tough games throughout this tour. It always helps to be able to have tough games. … We look forward to every game we’ve got. It’s about bringing your fitness up, but at the end of the day, you don’t want to go out and lose games.”
