Ashley Young admits he can't believe how well his first year has gone at Aston Villa.

The former Watford flyer told the club's website: "I do believe that my development has come on faster than expected. When I first came here everyone was saying it was a massive fee, but I just wanted to concentrate on my football, because the fee was an agreement between the two clubs.

"Last season things started off well, then I had a dip in form and then towards the end of the season I picked it back up, before going away for the Under-21 tournament which went very well for me.

"I was looking forward to pre-season and I said at the time that I didn't want the season to finish last year because of how well I was doing.

"Then this season things have been going really well and obviously that's a lot to do with the management team. It's also about me. I'm the one out there doing it.

"I'm just concentrating on how things are going at Villa. I've got years to go on my contract and I'm extremely happy here.

"Hopefully Martin O'Neill will be the manager for a long time and I can learn more from him."