It’s official then, Ashley Young has made the switch to Old Trafford in a deal thought to be worth £17m after putting pen to paper on a five year contract.

It’s a transfer every Villa fan will have a view on, some will be more upset than others. Personally, I think Aston Villa and Ashley Young had simply gone as far as they could together and a change was best for both parties. With his heart elsewhere and a year left on his contract, £17m is a good deal, hopefully McLeish can reinvest it wisely.

I’ve every confidence that a fresh environment will allow Ash to flourish once again, but staying at Villa wouldn’t have done him or us much good at all. It’s a pity that we can’t offer what the top players want right now (*cough* £130k/week *cough*) and there are obvious concerns about seeing our key player(s) departing every summer, but it is what it is at the moment.

If you’re interested, his first interview with MUTV is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lq2UOAzQVo

On a personal level, I’d like to say that Ash has been one of my favourite players over the last few seasons. At his best, he’s been an absolute joy to watch. At his worst, well he’s still been quite good really, albeit incredibly frustrating at times.

Is he as good as he thinks he is? Well, we’ll get a better idea over the next season or two.

Martin O’Neill certainly raised a few eyebrows when he banked a club record transfer fee on the skinny kid from Watford, but he turned out to be worth every penny. There’s no question that we will miss him, but new players will come through and we’ll be fine.

My favourite memory? Well, this is hard to beat this:

All the best to Ash, thanks for the memories.