Hodgson wants Ashley Young to lead Anfield revival

Aston Villa winger Ashley Young is top of Roy Hodgson's wishlist as he tries to add British players to his Liverpool team.

Hodgson, who has strongly denied that he is not a big enough name to persuade Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to stay, will try to find out this week if Villa manager Martin O'Neill is willing to let Young leave.

The winger, who celebrates his 25th birthday on Friday, made a big early impact at Villa following a £10million move from Watford in 2007.

But inconsistency last season meant he missed out on going to the World Cup with England.

Liverpool have sold Yossi Benayoun to Chelsea for £6.5m and replaced him with 29-year-old Serbia World Cup player Milan Jovanovic, a free agent. Hodgson could also sell Javier Mascherano to Barcelona for £25m and bring in Brazil's Gilberto Silva at a fraction of the price.

He said: 'We would be foolish not to be aware of the importance of homegrown players with the way UEFA and Premier League rules are going. Otherwise we're going to struggle to get our squad numbers together.

'I think the club have been trying to do that already with younger players like Jonjo Shelvey and Raheem Sterling but it takes time for them to come through so we might have to go into the transfer market.'

The manager turned down the chance to sign Jovanovic for a fee when he was at Fulham but sees him as a good capture on a free transfer.

He said: 'We have furnished the World Cup with more players than any other team but looking at the squad at Melwood, it did seem very small in terms of seniors.'

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