Promising Manchester United ‘play anywhere’ Tom Cleverley has insisted England have their pick of a bright bunch of talented youngsters saying that the talent is in place to replace the old guard. The 20 year old Bradford raised utility player has received a huge boost after Sir Alex Ferguson declared he wasn’t releasing him on loan again following successive stays at Leicester City and Watford. The manager is prepared to give Cleverley every chance of staking a claim for a place in the senior side.
Cleverley continued his impressive displays from pre season with a star turn in the 3-1 second string victory against Manchester City. After lifting Watford’s Player of the Year award while on loan last term and making the breakthrough into the England under 21 side he has now targeted cementing his place in Ferguson’s plans.
He told MUTV that “All I can do is keep playing to my top performance level, whether it’s for the Reserves or the first team. As long as I keep doing that, hopefully the manager will see I’m doing well and I’ll get a couple of chances here and there. Any game against City is a big one but in our squad tonight I think we had six internationals and six under 21 internationals or something silly like that so there was added pressure there.”
“It was one of the strongest reserve teams ever. We didn’t start badly then they got the goal and we lost our momentum a little bit. But we got one in the first half, kicked on in the second, got a couple of good goals, and it’s a good victory.” Ferguson’s decision to keep the youngster at Old Trafford rather than send him out on another loan spell was a huge vote of confidence in Cleverley.
“There are advantages and disadvantages to going on loan” he believes “I would have got more games somewhere else but training with this quality of players every day is a huge advantage. I do feel that one game at United is worth five somewhere else” Cleverley continued “Federico Macheda is an example. He has had a limited number of games but he has done well and made a name for himself.”
While a number of pundits has little faith in England’s future at international level, the confident youngster begs to differ “People are a bit harsh to say there is no talent coming through” he says “it is there, a couple of times we have had the problem the first team has and we just didn’t gel.”
“When you look at players like Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, Jack Rodwell and Jack Wilshere the talent in the squad is unbelievable” he continued “a few of those lads have played Champions League and European football. They also have plenty of Premier League games under their belts. The fact Wilshere is in the senior squad just shows it can be done.”
Ferguson has no doubts about Cleverley’s value to his side saying that “He is an exceptional young player in the sense of his ability to play in different positions. He can play wide on either side and in central midfield. He has also showed at Watford last year that he has got outstanding qualities as far as goal scoring is concerned.” United are fortunate to have a wealth of young talent waiting for their chance to burst through the ranks and it will not surprise to see Cleverley doing just that this season.
Is Cleverley better off staying at United or going out on another loan spell?
Nah he’s rubbish!!
Never mind loaning him, you should SELL him to Leicester City to give your young foreign players a chance!!
I reckon a valuation of £1 mill should get him off your hands.
As a Watford fan I would love to see Tom back with us but I know it’s not going to happen ….. he is every bit a premiership player and would be a shoe-in for all but the biggest clubs, even then it’s only the evergreen superbness of Gibbs and Scholes that could possibly hinder his progression at United… but we all know that can’t last forever.
To the average fan Watford may be an unfashionable place to send players but those in the know, know of their Harefield academy and it’s unique programme (modelled on Ajax FC) which makes Lilleshall look like a holiday camp. While training with the worlds best players is no doubt good and necessary experience, the real building blocks must be firmly in place beforehand and whilst big clubs scout talent, at Harefield they nurture it.
I wish TC well and of course Sir Alex who hopefully will continue to support us with more quality loans whilst our still budding academy develops further.
Staying here, the lad is the next big thing and a future talisman of the united engine room and staying here this year will be a massive boost for the kid. He will learn alot from playing with the greatest players in the world which will stand in good stead when he gets his chance to shine, we all know he has a nature gift and is flooded with silky skill and i cant wait to see him take it from the reserve and dazzle on the biggest stage of all.
thx for passing by Brian… his stay with watford improved him so much as a player… and training with big names here will take him to the next level
…and he promotes LCFC to the EPL next season…. nah.. Watford will buy more than you 😉
Nah.. we’re flush with Thai Dollar now boss… KING POWER!!
Yes Brian I’m sure Watfords “Ajax” type academy is good but still they only finished 6th in the same group as LCFC, a group which we easily won by going the WHOLE SEASON UNBEATEN!!!
Even ManU failed to do that in 12 of their games…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009-10_Premier_Academy_League
Watch out.. that’s all I’ll say… 😉
Don’t want to get in a slanging match on here foxy and you are right, Leicester have a history of producing some top players …. However, because Watford are such a small club, many of our older academy lads were our reserve and even first team players last season – obviously leaving the academy depleted….. the academy itself is pretty new and has done well considering.