John McGinn has summed up in 16 words why Everton are signing Ashley Young

Everton are closing in on their first signing of the summer transfer window.

But it’s fair to say that the impending arrival of Ashley Young hasn’t been met with unanimous enthusiasm among supporters.

Young underwent his medical at Goodison Park yesterday. Should that have gone smoothly, he will link up with the Toffees during their pre-season training camp in Switzerland.

Certainly, Young - who is a free agent following his release from Aston Villa at the end of last season - will bring a wealth of experience to Everton. He’s made 667 senior club appearances during his career and earned 39 England caps. What’s more, he’s won the Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup with Manchester United as well as the Serie A title at Inter Milan.

But it’s Young’s age that sections of fans have been left frustrated at given he turned 38 last weekend. Those of that persuasion believe the Blues should not be signing players who are not only past the peak of their powers but very much in their twilight years.

Indeed, Young’s not the pacy winger that he was during his apogee. In recent years, he’s been converted to a full-back, which has allowed him to prolong his career at the top level. In the past two campaigns, Young made a total of 57 appearances during his second spell for Villa.

Some 32 of those outings arrived last term - and 23 were starts in the Premier League. Towards the end of the campaign, he was ahead of Matty Cash in the pecking order as Unai Emery’s side as they secured a seventh-place finish and qualified for the Europa Conference League.

When Young’s departure was confirmed, large sections of Villa fans were disappointed to see him leave. That seemingly was the sentiment inside the dressing room.

Emery is believed to have considered keeping Young at the Birmingham-based side for an additional year. And the reaction to Young’s release was lamented by John McGinn. The Villa captain paid tribute to the veteran after his exit was confirmed, McGinn wrote on Twitter: “Absolutely gutted to lose a top guy and top player. Pleasure to have played with you.”

Speaking on Young’s impact in May via Birmingham Live, Emery said: “Ashley Young is an example. I had players like this at Villarreal too. If you didn’t know his age you could think he is 28 because every day even as much as he is playing he is playing very well. Before usually you were seeing players of 32, 34 starting to finish their careers 20 years ago.

“At Villarreal, we were signing players 35, 36, like Jose Luis Morales and we didn’t change our mind for his age. Now it is the same for Young. We are going to speak about him. Now is not the moment but, of course, he can extend his career longer than this year.

“He is very important in the dressing room. I am using him a lot of times when we are speaking together before matches about our experiences - my experiences and the players’ experiences.”