Villa stamp record $19m Young deal

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BIRMINGHAM, England -- Aston Villa completed the club record 9.5 million pounds ($18.85 million) signing of Ashley Young from Premier League rivals Watford on Tuesday after the forward passed a medical.

The England Under-21 international became manager Martin O'Neill's third January signing after Villa beat several other Premier League teams to his signature.

Young's arrival follows that of Norway striker John Carew, who joined Villa in a swap deal for Milan Baros on Monday, and full back Phil Bardsley on loan from Manchester United.

Villa announced on Saturday that 21-year-old left-winger Young had agreed in principle to join the Midlands club, who are struggling in 14th place in the 20-team standings.

Young played a key role in Watford's promotion campaign last season with 13 goals after becoming a first-team regular under manager Adrian Boothroyd in the 2005-06 season.

The signings of Young and Carew sees O'Neill return to the forward formula which brought him so much success at Celtic, where Henrik Larsson's mobility and finishing were usually allied to the physical presence of either John Hartson or Chris Sutton, who has since been reunited with his old boss in Birmingham.

O'Neill is hopeful that Young can develop into a Larsson-style goalscorer, which is exactly what Villa need if they are to build on their promising start to life under the Northern Irishman.

"We are a side who do create chances - it even happened in our recent bad spell - and we need someone with the ability to put the ball in the net," said.

"We needed a goalscorer, someone who can convert just some of the chances that we are creating."

Watford win

Jay DeMerit's header 20 minutes from time secured only Watford's second Premiership win of the season as the league's basement club beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Vicarage Road on Tuesday.

Australia international Brett Emerton's 12th minute own-goal gave the hosts the lead before Rovers's South Africa striker Benni McCarthy equalized on the stroke of half-time.

But DeMerit scored the final goal when, after Rovers failed to clear a free-kick, he headed in from close range.

Victory was Watford's first in the league since they beat Middlesbrough 2-0 at home in November and victory still left them four points adrift of second-bottom Charlton and seven shy of safety.

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