Garth Crooks has heaped praise on Man United defender Ashley Young, who was instrumental in his side’s biggest win of the season against Fulham on Saturday.
Young scored one and added an assist in the 4-1 win over woeful Fulham at Old Trafford, although he still couldn’t help them to a clean sheet.
And Crooks added Young to his premier League Team of the Week, saying he was enjoying an “extraordinary renaissance” under Jose Mourinho.
“His goal against Fulham was his first for Manchester United for nearly a year – and the rejuvenated Ashley Young is experiencing the most extraordinary renaissance,” wrote Crooks in his BBC column.
“The United captain, who has taken the armband from the recently expelled Antonio Valencia, finds himself in a fascinating position. A player who struggled to hold down a place in the team two years ago has become the most influential person in it. It’s a funny game, football.”
OPINION
It doesn’t say a lot about the current cop of big-money Man United signings, like Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku, that Crooks is claiming that the most influential player in the United side at the moment is Ashley Young. As Crooks said, he was struggling to hold his place down in the side a couple of years ago, but these are troubling times at Old Trafford and United fans will take their heroes wherever they can find them at the moment. Young was magnificent on Saturday and United showed that they can still put struggling teams to the sword. Now they need to kick on and prove that they can live with the teams at the other end of the table. Chelsea showed how to take on and beat seemingly invincible sides like Man City. Now United need to use this as a platform to try to get themselves back in touch with the top four. That might already be a step too far this season.