Everton have been regularly linked with Tom Cleverley over the last few years and, despite his recent move to Aston Villa, the rumours persist that he may ultimately end up at Everton.
The Guardian says:
Everton have not given up on signing Tom Cleverley from United next summer, even though this month’s whipping boy of choice is currently on loan at Aston Villa.
And The Telegraph reports:
Villa have the option to sign him permanently in January for £7.5 million, while Everton and Hull City remain interested after losing out on deadline day.
The Everton boss has also suggested that Manchester United were less than keen to sell to Everton as they saw them as one of their direct rivals for a Champions League spot this season.
Martinez stressed this week that the player offers something different to what Everton currently have in their squad we wouldn’t be at all surprised if they did go back in for the player who is on loan at Aston Villa, with an option for a permanent move.
Given the choice you would expect that Cleverley would choose Everton, who have genuine hopes of European qualification, ahead of and Aston Villa – a team which is still very much a work in progress.
You would imagine that this is a crunch season for the player after a couple of really disappointing years at Manchester United.
He’s got decent technique but he just hasn’t offered enough to warrant a place in a good team.
Sideways and backwards passing is all well and good when you are 4-0 up but when chasing the game Cleverley has seldom put in the sort of shift that would merit a place in the side at Manchester.
Confidence obviously plays a big part too and Cleverley should get a lot more of it with regular game time at Aston Villa.
Let’s see him in action. Everton fans: would you be keen?
