Houllier to hang onto Young

Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier says star man Ashley Young will not leave in January, despite interest from Liverpool and Tottenham.

The England winger is arguably Villa’s most important player but his contract runs out at the end of the season.

That means Villa could face losing him for nothing if he does not sign a contract extension.

But Houllier insists he will not sell Young in January to ensure the club receive a fee.

“He knows that the club’s will is to keep him. I’ll keep him in until the end of his contract and to keep the club developing,” Houllier said.

“He told us very clearly that he would like to end this season and see what he’ll do and we respect that.”

“Let’s wait and see, at the moment I can tell you that we’ll assess that a bit later on. But in the meantime I don’t think he’ll leave in January. I don’t think so.”

Villa face Tottenham on Boxing Day followed by three tough games with Manchester City, Chelsea and Sunderland over the festive period.

And Houllier explained what a huge difference a couple of wins could make.

“I am fully focused on the games, starting with Tottenham,” he said.

“The most important thing is to pick up points. We have 20 points, which is not enough.”

“You could say easily, for those who have followed our games, that we could have maybe five or six points more which would put us in maybe seventh or eighth position.”

“Unfortunately we dropped points but now have to be focused on the 21 games left to play. The games will come thick and fast.”

Young is one of the players unlikely to face Tottenham on Boxing Day because of a knee injury. And his namesake, Luke Young, is also a doubt with a groin problem.

Houllier added: “We don’t know yet about Ashley. He hasn’t trained with the team yet but it’s still early. We’re playing on Sunday.”

“Luke hasn’t trained with the team either. He has a groin and hip problem but he’s been getting inside and doing some gym work.”