By Aston Villa of England youngster, Carney Chukwuemeka is raining encomiums on two former internationals, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Young, who he recalled were battling midfielders he idolized as a kid.
While revealing the sterling qualities that made Gerrard and Young stand out as his best players to emulate, the fast-rising winger-cum-midfielder declared emphatically that he even wants to surpass their feats.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Chukwuemeka added that Young, a former captain of Manchester United, is the senior colleague that has helped him most since he stepped up into Villa’s first team.
Chukwuemeka, who got his debut in the English Premier League debut at the age of 17 and has been named in The Villans’ matchday squads on 32 occasions, also the recounted the youthful exuberance exhibited by Young, who also played for Inter Milan of Italy.
“He started young, he took us youngsters under his wing, gave us encouragement,” said Chukwuemeka, who further disclosed that Gerrard was his England hero while he was growing up.
Incidentally, Chukwuemeka is now playing under Gerrard at Villa, for which he has gained eight appearances under the former Liverpool and England ace.
The Nigerian-born lad, who became provisionally cap-tied to England when he started for their youth team, The Young Lions, in a 4-0 rout of Andorra in an U19 EURO qualifier in November 2021, posited that he was always in awe of Gerrard’s midfield acumen.
Chukwuemeka submitted: “He’s a midfielder, his finishing from outside the box, he’s a leader, he could win games by himself.”
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