Tom Cleverley blew hot and cold during his time at Aston Villa, seemingly a lost man in a team staring in the face of relegation under Paul Lambert but rejuvenated under Tim Sherwood scoring key goals in the Premier League, helping Villa avoid the Championship for the first time in our history.
Tim Sherwood said to the media that he wanted to keep the English at the club once his contract at Man Utd expired, stating that if he didn’t sign he wouldn’t play in the FA Cup Final against Arsenal at Wembley – Cleverley played, but didn’t sign.
This weekend, Cleverley is set to line up against Aston Villa after returning back to full fitness after time on the sidelines with injury, and after an indifferent start with Everton this season, we analyse whether Cleverley not signing was a bit of a gift, or a big miss in the Villa midfield.
Movement & Play
Cleverley in his best form for the club, was somewhat of a box to box midfielder, especially under Sherwood, using the channels to great effect and having a knack to make late runs into the box.
It seems in our new midfield, with the likes of Idrissa Gueye don’t seem to have adapted to that yet and it’s shown this season – with Villa only scoring 10 goals in their 12 games.
Cleverley was also easily adept on the ball, confident and composed and always seemed to be a calming force when in possession and that bit of quality that saw The Villans survive.
Right club, wrong time
But Cleverley always had his heart set elsewhere, like a few of players at the club during Paul Lambert’s tenure it seemed that Cleverley had his heart set elsewhere thinking he is better than Aston Villa and it was only a club to fill the gap until the circumstances panned out in a better way, as a fan I never truly believed that he was putting his heart into the shirt. I
t was convenient also how he played his best football in a Villa shirt toward the business end of the season as if to up his game before his contract expired.
Despite this, the English midfielder reportedly receiving £50,000 a week on his new deal at Everton, this is the kind of money Villa cannot compete with, unfortunately, and in all honesty – I don’t think an Everton fan could say he deserves that now, let alone justifying earning that figure at Villa.
Tom Cleverley is just another former Villa player that could of been something, but because of the way the market is in the Premier League for English & homegrown players, it seems that he opted to take advantage of his nationality and operate at a substandard level for a decent team with no worry of having to graft out big performances in a difficult relegation battle.
