Today, Villa have refuted claims that they have received any approaches from rival clubs for Ashley Young despite reported growing interest in the England international. Houllier will be hoping that the signing of players of the calibre of Bent and Makoun will persuade Young that the club are pushing for progress after a poor start to the season saw the winger put a hold on contract talks. His current deal expires next summer with many potential suitors eyeing up a cut price move for the 25-year-old. It was believed that Tottenham came close to signing Young in the summer with Harry Redknapp confirming an interest but Villa resisted bids, saying they would rather see him go for free in 2012 than for a fee lower than their valuation, which Houllier ludicrously claimed was £80m at one point. It has now been suggested that Liverpool have renewed an interest in Young under new manager Kenny Dalglish. Surprisingly for this club, it only appears to be Man City who aren’t interested in poaching a star man with the likes of United, Chelsea and Arsenal all being linked in the past.
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