Current Club: Manchester United
Ashley is a Stevenage-born player whose speedy wing-play sets up countless goals for team-mates. He joined local League club Watford after initially being turned away by their Academy and Hornets boss Ray Lewington gave him his Division One debut as a substitute against Millwall when he was 18. He scored in that game and contributed two more in four further substitute appearances in the 2003-04 season.
He was ‘Young Player of the Season’ in 2004-05 and in the next campaign scored 15 Championship goals as Watford won promotion via the play-offs under Aidy Boothroyd. He seemed set to be a West Ham United player in the January window of 2007 but it was Aston Villa who signed him and he was very close to being a Premier League ever-present in his first two full seasons, notching 16 goals from the left wing.
Ashley was capped ten times for England’s Under-21s and made his senior bow as a substitute for Joe Cole in a friendly against Austria in Vienna on 16 November 2007. He made a second substitute appearance in Fabio Capello’s first game in charge and was handed his first start in the Holland friendly in Amsterdam in August 2009.
Young's career has risen steadily in recent years, particularly since moving to Manchester United in June 2011. He has taken life at Old Trafford in his stride; highlights include two goals in a famous 8-2 victory over Arsenal and a goal on his Champions League debut, against Basel.
Since making his first start for England - against Montenegro in 2010 - Young has also grown in stature on the international stage. He scored his first England goal, the winner, in a friendly against Denmark in February 2011 and he had taken his tally to five by the time he played against Holland in 2012.