Ashley Young has broken his silence on a viral clip of a bird supposedly defecating in his mouth while playing for Manchester United in 2014.

During a Premier League tie with Swansea City at Old Trafford, Young is seen barking orders at his United team-mates, before an object appears to enter his mouth.

The clip went viral in the immediate aftermath, with fans believing that the object was from a bird flying over. Since then, the 34-year-old has long been the butt of jokes about the incident, with gifs and short clips being shared on social media with increasing regularity.

Ashley Young has broken his silence on a clip that went viral involving him in 2014

But the veteran defender has finally had his say on what happened that day.

Speaking to the official UTD Podcast, Young said: 'No, it didn't happen! I've said this for god knows how long but it got to a point where I was like "I need to do an interview to say it didn't happen" but I just couldn't be bothered.

'It had gone viral and is still going viral I think now and even my wife and kids turn round and say "yeah but the bird pooed in your mouth", no it didn't.'

The defender was barking instructions at team-mates before an object dropped from above

The clip was shared on social media with fans believing it to be bird poo, but Young insists that was not the case

The defender said he wanted to clear up the incident earlier but said he couldn't be bothered

Young, who joined United under Sir Alex Ferguson from Aston Villa, insisted that camera trickery was the reason for the misunderstanding, and said that had it been the case, his reaction would have been very different.

'It actually didn't. And I said at the time, I'm sure the game was on TV, someone must have stopped it, recorded it, done whatever they did and put it together because it never actually happened. I think someone edited it because I know it never happened.

'I'm actually relieved that I've got the evidence… I think you can tell it's not real because I think you can tell, if a bird s*** in my mouth, you're going to have a reaction. Why is it that it's just gone, or carry on filming me? There you go.'

Fortunately for Young, he bears no ill feeling towards the clip, stressing that it does not bother him.

'It is what it is, it's like, fair enough,' he said. 'I know what happened.'