After Liverpool FC agreed a deal with James Milner, their local rivals, Everton FC, are working hard to bring new faces to the squad and the first one seems to be Tom Cleverley, 25, from Manchester United. The English midfielder will be free on July 1, when he will surely sign for The Toffees a five-year contract.
Cleverley was widely criticized in the past few years especially when he used to be a regular first eleven player at Manchester United. The 25 years old was loaned out to Aston Villa for the whole 2014-2015 season, ticking 30 matches in Premier League and scoring three goals as a central midfielder.
This could be a very important transfer for Everton FC, considering that Cleverley is an experienced guy who is also representing the England squad, playing 13 games for the first team so far. He was also called into the squad for Sunday's friendly against Ireland, but this happened after Ryan Mason from Tottenham was left out due to an injury.
Roberto Martinez seems to be delighted about this signing. ''I can think of many reasons why fans will enjoy Tom representing our 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 playing in Premier League and he still has his best years just ahead of him'', said Everton boss who worked with Cleverley before at Wigan Athletic in the 2010-2011 season.
Besides Manchester United and Aston Villa, Tom Cleverley has also played for teams like Leicester City, Watford, and Wigan Athletic. He represented these teams as a loaned player from Man. United and he did very well, especially when he wore Watford's jersey, scoring 11 goals in 33 appearances.
Gareth Barry, 34, is getting older and Cleverley will probably take his role after his departure in the near future.
Some rumors appeared after Everton announced this transfer, with the possibility of Ross Barkley leaving the club this summer, but he and Cleverley are very different kind of players so I can not see the point in this case.