Young set to seal Villa transfer

Watford forward Ashley Young will on Tuesday finally seal his £9.65million move to Aston Villa.

Young's signing will be announced once some "basic administration" has been completed.

It will be a further boost to Villa manager Martin O'Neill's attack after the arrival of Norwegian international John Carew from Lyon in a swap deal which took Milan Baros to the French club.

Young will sign a four-and-a-half-year contract worth £30,000 a week which will quadruple the wages he was being paid at Vicrage Road.

The 21-year-old, who rejected a move to West Ham earlier in the month, is expected to make his debut in the Barclays Premiership clash with Newcastle at St. James' Park on January 31.

O'Neill is aware of the need for Villa to start taking a higher proportion of their goalscoring opportunities with Baros having been on target just once this season.

He said: "I would say that we are a side who do create chances. It even happened in our recent bad spell - which I am not saying is over - and we need someone with the ability to put the ball in the net.

"We do play some delightful stuff and create chances. We needed a goalscorer, someone who can convert just some of the chances that we are creating."

With the arrival of Carew and Young, there could now also be a question mark over the future of seven-goal striker Juan Pablo Angel who started the season in good form but has struggled in recent weeks.

The Colombian international even lost his place for a spell although he was restored to the side for Saturday's 2-0 win over Watford. But O'Neill will be aware of the need to retain cover particularly as Chris Sutton is showing little sign of improvement after suffering blurred vision against Manchester United before Christmas.