WITH WAYNE ROONEY ruled out of Man United’s trip to PSV Eindhoven and Louis van Gaal’s striking options limited, Ashley Young has put himself forward to lead the line on Tuesday evening.
Rooney missed Saturday’s win over Liverpool with a hamstring injury while van Gaal decided to let Javier Hernandez, Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao leave the club during the transfer window.
Marouane Fellaini was deployed as an auxiliary centre-forward against the Reds and Young, who played up-front for Aston Villa on several occasions, has said he is ready and willing to perform that role.
“If the manager wants me to play there then yes, of course I would,” Young said on the eve of the game in Eindhoven.
“I can play in lots of positions and I have done that under the manager, whether it is up front or in midfield. Hopefully I can play there but it’s up to the manager.”
Young was introduced at half-time at the weekend and made an immediate impact as he won the free-kick from which Daley Blind set United on their way to three important points.
He says van Gaal knows he can operate through the middle but with Memphis Depay the most likely candidate to get the nod, Young admits he’s happy to play anywhere.
“He has said it to me before, but it is down to him,” the England international continued. “He has that headache of picking the team, so rather him than me.”
United return to the Champions League group stages tomorrow night as they open their Group B campaign in Holland.
At his pre-match press conference, van Gaal moved to temper expectations amongst the Old Trafford faithful despite the club spending as much as £250 million on new players during the summer.
“A draw away is always a good result in my opinion,” the United manager said of tomorrow’s game.
“But I want to win and the first match it is very important to win. And it is also like that for PSV so you have to wait and see.”
“We have to show on the pitch if we are able to win matches on the highest level. That’s also a challenge for us now. Last year we were fourth in the Premier League.
“We qualified ourselves this year and that was our aim so now we have to show if we are able to play at that level and that I don’t know, neither. I have to wait and see.
“I think the Champions League is a higher podium than the Premier League but maybe it’s not like that.”
