A deal was struck late into the deadline day to take Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley to Aston Villa after the clubs were granted additional time to complete the deal by the FA. The loan will last until the end of the season and should he impress Villa manager Paul Lambert he may choose to make it a permanent move.

It was thought that he would join permanently yesterday afternoon only for Everton to swoop in and try to take him from Villa’s grasp. In the end their bid of 5.5 million was rejected late on, which left little time for United and Villa to salvage the 7.5 million deal which was reported to be agreed earlier on. Villa were reported to be unwilling to meet Cleverley’s excessive wage demands which were thought to be double what he was earning at United.

There’s no doubting that with United’s new re-enforcements through the door Tom was going to see very little game time this season which left Louis Van Gaal eager to get him out on loan, or, permanently – if possible.

For me, despite Cleverley not being deemed good enough to stay in Manchester I believe it to be a very decent signing for Villa. And for the player himself it gives him a big chance to try and salvage his stumbling career, and he will more than likely be eager to impress LVG during his loan spell to try and push his way back in to his first team plans in the future.

Sorry about the low amount of posts in the past few weeks. First off I went away on holiday for a week so I was without internet. Then last week I had surgery on my knee which left me very sore and unwilling to do absolutely anything. The regular posts are back so keep checking the website for the latest big football news!