Manchester United - A Look at The New Arrivals

A golden-era which saw Manchester United win 4 EPL titles in 5 years has come to an end after the retirement/transfers of great servants to the club. Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Edwin Van Der Sar, John O’Shea and Wes Brown have now left Old Trafford and its like the beginning of the end of an era. Proper replacements had to be made for them and the Gaffer has brought in 3 young stars to the club with 23 days still remaining until the transfer window closes. The three are: Ashley Young from Aston Villa, Phil Jones from Blackburn Rovers and David de Gea from Atletico Madrid.

Let’s have a look at the new lads at Old Trafford.

1] Name – Ashley YoungAge – 26Position – Winger/Attacking midfielder.

Sportskeeda had reasoned back in March why Young would be an ideal buy for United.Read it here.

Signature: Ashley Young signed for Manchester United from Aston Villa on 23rd June for a fee of around 16 million euros, honestly what a bargain for a player of his quality.

Abilities: Young has already proved his worth and abilities at Villa Park in the last few seasons which attracted the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson. Ashley Young is well known for his abilities in taking set-pieces and for his inch-perfect crosses. He is very quick, has great pace, vision, dribbling, finishing and is skilled at one touch passing.

International & Club Career: He is a youth academy product of Watford and joined Villa in 2007. He got his first national cap for the senior team back in 31st August, 2007 to face Russia and Israel in Euro Cup 2008 qualifiers. Since then Young has improved with every appearance and has been a regular for his national side. He got his first cap in club career in 2003 with Watford and first competetive cap for Manchester United in the FA Community Shield.Honours: He has won the Football League Championship play-offs with Watford and FA Community Shield with Manchester United already. He was the Watford Young player of the seasin in 2004-05, Premier League player of the month thrice in April 2008, September 2008 and December 2008. He was the PFA – Young player of the season in 2008-09 and was a part of Premier League team of the year 2007 and 2008.Ashley Young has been a great buy for United and would boost the side’s attacking flair up front with his versatility. Young can play on both wings and also just behind the striker. Playing alongside world class striker’s like Rooney and Berbatov, Ashley Young is expected to get lots of assists to his name. Young got his first assist in a United jersey against Manchester City in the Community Shield final when his pin point free kick found Smalling inside the penalty box and the England U21 international made no mistake in sending it to the back of the net.

2] Name – Phil JonesAge – 19Position – Centre back/ Defensive midfielder.Signature: Phil Jones signed for Manchester United from Blackburn Rovers on 13 June for a fee of around 16.5 million euros. Following a string of impressive performances for the Riversiders, Jones was reportedly linked with several top clubs in England, including United, Liverpool and Manchester City. However Sir Alex Ferguson made it a point to sign this sturdy defender, touted to become England’s next captain.

Abilities: Jones has great physical presence on the field and is a good tackler of the ball. He is the kind of defender who really likes getting into the half way line from the back and sometimes go even further deep into the opposition half. He can be used as a fine defensive midfieler as well, and sometimes even a decent full back which was a position that was assigned for him in a few pre-season games with United.

International & Club career: He is a youth academy product of Blackburn Rovers. Jones was called for the U-21 European cup this year along with his fellow United team-mate Chris Smalling. He got his first senior cap with Rovers in 2009. He got his first competetive cap for United by coming on as a substitute in the 2nd half of the Community Shield on August 7th, 2011.

Honours: He has won the FA Community Shield with Manchester United.

Phil Jones has already been tipped as a long term replacement for United’s experienced defender Rio Ferdinand who’s 32 years old. Absolutely a great buy for Manchester United, has great potential and will surely go on to become one of the finest defenders.

3] Name – David de GeaAge – 20Position – Goalkeeper.

Signature: David de Gea signed for Manchester United from Atletico Madrid on 29 June for a fee of around 18 million euros. He had 2 spectacular seasons at Madrid which made him one of the hottest prospects in Europe.International & Club career: De Gea is a youth academy product of the Los Rojiblancos. De Gea was called up for the U-21 European cup with Spain and was the first choice goalkeeper. He made his first U-17 national cap in 2007, his first cap with Atletico Madrid in 2009, his first competitive cap for United in the FA Community Shield.

Honours: He was selected as the best goalkeeper of the U-21 European Cup which Spain won. He has also won European U-17 football championship in 2007 and the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup with Atletico Madrid and the FA Community Shield with Manchester United.

Abilities: He has very great reflexes, and quick response. However, his area of weekness is from long range shots, he had conceded a total of 11 goals from outside the box last season. Following the retirement of Edwin Van Der Sar at United, there was a requirement to fill that space left by the Dutchman. And thus, Sir Alex Ferguson saw the potential and ability in a 20 year old in De Gea which ultimately lead to the signature of the Spanish shot-stopper to Manchester United. In Sir Alex, we trust.