Late last week, Everton announced that Tom Cleverley is set to join the club on a free transfer when his contract with Manchester United expires on July 1. The 25-year-old England international will pen a five-year deal with the Toffees, becoming manager Roberto Martinez’s first acquisition of the summer transfer window.
Speaking on the midfielder’s imminent arrival, Martinez expressed his delight at signing a player who boasts a wealth of experience yet still harbours the potential to mature:
“We are extremely delighted to be welcoming Tom to Everton and I can think of many reasons as to why our fans will enjoy Tom representing our football club. The most important one is that he is a perfect fit for what we are trying to build here as he has so much experience of playing in the Premier League and he still has his best years just ahead of him. At the age of 25 and a player who is representing his country, Tom has experienced winning trophies and having big roles in demanding teams. Having worked with him previously, I know the type of character he is and I know that, with the Everton fans’ support, we will get a very special footballer joining our already exciting team. It says a lot also, when someone like Tom is available on a free transfer and he can pick his next club out of many options home and abroad, that he has chosen to play for our football club. That’s the perfect start to his career here at Everton.”
The History
Raised in West Yorkshire, Cleverley spent two years at Bradford City’s youth academy, before joining Manchester United at the age of 11. His senior debut for the Red Devils didn’t arrive until the 2011/12 campaign, so in the intervening years Cleverley plied his trade for the reserve team and embarked on a handful of temporary spells.
In January 2009, Cleverley joined Leicester City on a season-long loan deal. After netting two goals in 15 outings, his stint with the Foxes was curtailed by a serious shoulder injury that required surgery. The Hampshire-born midfielder was then farmed out to Watford the following, producing 11 goals and five assists in 35 fixtures and earning the club’s Player of the Season accolade. A third successive loan deal saw Cleverley make the step up to the Premier League by joining the Martinez-managed Wigan for the 2011/12 campaign. He tallied four goals and two assists in 25 league appearances and was widely considered one of the Latics top performers that season.
Cleverley finally started his first league match for United in August 2011, lasting the distance in their opener against West Bromwich Albion. The midfielder struggled to stamp his authority on a starting berth for the Red Devils, though, and ultimately managed just 79 appearances across all competitions, producing five goals and eight assists.
United’s deluge of new midfield recruits in the summer of 2014 found Cleverley surplus to requirements, prompting Aston Villa to snap him up on a season-long loan deal in the dying embers of the transfer window. After failing to impress under the pragmatic Paul Lambert, the much-maligned Cleverley stepped up his contribution with Tim Sherwood at the helm and ended his stint at the midlands in style, bagging goals in three of Villa’s final five league fixtures.
The Prospects
Crucially, as mentioned above, Cleverley has already proved a success under Martinez at Wigan, suggesting that his move to Merseyside should be a relatively smooth one.
To an extent, his worth as a Fantasy asset depends predominantly on which formation Martinez favours next season. A 4-1-4-1 set-up should enable Cleverley to partner Ross Barkley or James McCarthy in central midfield behind the lone striker, placing him in the thick of the action. If, however, the Toffees boss operates with a 4-2-3-1 set-up, Cleverley may well adopt a sitting role behind the attacking quartet, thus reducing the probability of attacking returns.
Given his output in an advanced role under Sherwood, though, there’s hope that Martinez will afford his new acquisition attacking leeway for the upcoming campaign. Bearing in mind that Kevin Mirallas was the only Everton midfielder to score more than two league goals last time around, it’s obvious that the Toffees have significant room for improvement in the centre of the park.
Everton’s lack of European football should be an advantage for Martinez’s troops, following on from a season in which their standards dropped quite considerably. In the 2013/14 campaign, the Toffees chalked up 61 goals and conceded just 39, winning 21 matches in the process. Last term – while contending with midweek Europa League outings – the Merseyside outfit recorded just 48 goals and shipped 50, registering a paltry 12 wins.
On the downside, their reduced pool of fixtures – allied with a wealth of midfield options – does afford Martinez the option to rotate with regularity as he looks to keep his squad happy. Reports linking
McCarthy with a move away from Goodison, however, suggest Cleverley could quickly become a key figure if the Scot makes his way elsewhere.
Priced at 5.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) last season, Cleverley is likely to be valued no greater than 6.5 next term, given that Barkley was initially priced at 7.0. Even at that valuation, it’s likely that our sights will be set elsewhere in the Goodison camp, with Leighton Baines or Seamus Coleman again likely to attract investment should their price points drop as expected. Cleverley is clearly one to monitor, nonetheless, and if he can carry on from his end-of-season Villa showings, could be set to prove the doubters wrong.
