Tim Sherwood is poised to open contract talks with Tom Cleverly after identifying him as a key player in his rebuilding plans. Cleverly’s contract with Manchester United expires at the end of the season and it’s understood that Man. Utd aren’t going to offer him a new deal. Aston Villa are reported to have offered Cleverly a long-term contract with a wage of £40,000 a week to convince him to stay at the club and fend of interest from Everton.
Cleverly has massively improved under Sherwood and with ongoing dialogue between Sherwood and Cleverly, it looks as though Cleverly is more open to the idea of staying with Aston Villa for the long term. That would signal a massive turn of form for Cleverly after struggling under Lambert. With Sherwood as Villa’s new boss, Cleverly has been a solid player for Aston Villa and has paired well with Delph in central midfield.
“He’s brought belief and a bounce into people’s strides. That’s no disrespect to Paul Lambert, I liked him,” Cleverley said.
“Tim has given people confidence and made everyone feel a part of it. The manager wants all the lads to be more positive.
“He has the mindset that winning one and losing one is better than drawing two. He likes to play football with a bit of a gamble and it’s certainly paying off.
“Around January, I wasn’t pleased with my form. I didn’t do myself justice, but now I feel like I am getting back into a good rhythm.”
Tom Cleverly has played more football than any other midfielder at Aston Villa this season, making 30 appearances for the club. Despite not scoring or providing a single assist Cleverly has the 4th highest passing success rate at 86.3% with an average number of passes of 44.6 per game and second most number of tackles per game (2.6).
Additionally, Scott Sinclair will most likely move to Aston Villa in a £2.5 million deal from Man. City if Aston Villa avoid relegation. Darren Bent will also have talks with Sherwood at the end of the season and may sign a short-term contract after a successful spell with Derby. Ron Vlaar will most likely leave Aston Villa at the end of the season with no progress in contract talks and Vlaar has recently lost the captain’s armband to Fabian Delph.
Reading 1-1 Arsenal right now.
Can’t believe reading have equalised
It’s Arsenal to be fair, Reading were also always going to be hard to break down and weren’t giving up to score. Though watched United v Chelsea.
Federici basically just gave Arsenal the final. Awful keeping.
They would have won on pens anyway tbf but keeper needs shooting
Maybe, Arsenal’s keeper is honestly pretty poor, however you spell it, not even going to attempt it (surprised Ospina didn’t play but he seems their league keeper I guess).