Ashley Young returns to England squad a veteran but still hungry to sneak World Cup starting place

Young left a winger but returns to the Three Lions as a full-back

Ashley Young is the oldest member of the England squad (PA)

The last time Ashley Young played for England was a 0-0 draw in Kiev which edged Roy Hodgson’s side closer to the 2014 World Cup. Young came on as a second-half substitute, joining a midfield of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. With Ashley Cole and Rickie Lambert in the team too it was an ageing England side and Young, at 28, was in the middle of it.

But Hodgson did not take Young to that World Cup in Brazil, nor to Euro 2016 in France last year. Only this month has Gareth Southgate reignited Young’s international career and now, at 32, the Manchester United man finds himself the oldest player in the squad. It is all quite a surprise how it has turned out, not least to Young, finally back in the England set-up but very much a veteran here.

“I think I've found that at club level too,” Young admitted at St George’s Park this week. “One minute I'm the middle-of-the-road man, then all of a sudden I'm in the top three of seniors. You just get older, as everyone does. I think you become more wise and get more experience. Coming back here is an honour, to be back with the England squad.”

There are a whole generation of youngsters who never played for Capello or barely even for Hodgson and for them someone of Young’s experience is indispensable. “You see a lot of the younger boys here now,” Young said. “But if I can bring my experience to them and help them then maybe they can help me. I think it will be brilliant.”

At the start of Young’s England career under Fabio Capello he was a winger or even a number 10 but now he has reinvented himself for Jose Mourinho as a wing-back. Even if he is not as quick as he used to be, he now has the benefit of years of experience.

“I'd prefer it if I was playing further up the pitch,” Young admits. “But I've been able to adapt and play as a left-back or a right-back and as a wing-back. It’s about having the right football brain. Especially in this day and age you have to be able to adapt and play in different positions. I'm one of those players who can read the game well. I've got that experience as well to be clever, knowing where to be, when to attack, when to defend.”

Young has played a leading role at Manchester United this season (Getty Images)

It certainly helps that England are heading towards playing a back three and wing-backs more often than they did, to bring them in line with Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal. England have some very good wing-backs – Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier among them – but Young wants to push for his own place in the first team. “The manager is talking about a 3-4-3 or wing-backs or 3-5-2 and I feel like I can step into that role,” Young said. “I've shown I am deserving to be in the England squad but I don't just want a place in the squad, I want to be in the team.”

Young has felt his own share of frustrations over the last few years, losing his place for England and for United too, and is open about the pain of disappointment when that happens. Especially after making himself an England regular at one point.

“If you ask any English players to have represented their county before, who are then not involved for a few years, like I have been, then when you look at the squads there is disappointment there,” he said.

“As a professional player, you are going to have disappointment. But it's the way you bounce back from it. The way you turn things around, having that determination, that hunger and drive to want to be back in the England squad and succeed.”