Aston Villa midfielder Tom Cleverley has vowed to forget about the negativity that ruined his final season with United and prove doubters wrong about his abilities.
He said: ‘You don’t turn into a bad player just because someone says it on Twitter. I probably wasn’t the only United player to get it last year. For as long as Man United aren’t winning trophies, players will get criticised. I’m fully aware of that. I’ve still got a league title, 13 England caps.
‘If all the players say they were high in confidence last season I think they would be lying. It wasn’t just me. It was the rest of the squad too.
‘I’m sure one season doesn’t turn you into a bad player. That’s football for you. The year before I won the league, played 20-odd games.’
‘Football is a game of opinions, you can’t please everyone and the main opinion for me is the manager I am playing under.’
Cleverley, 25, was told by new United boss Louis van Gaal that his opportunities would be limited this season, so he forced through a loan move in the final seconds of deadline day by calling Villa manager Paul Lambert after a few fraught hours to explain his desire to play.
It appears that his agent, Simon Kennedy, almost scuppered the move, with Villa unhappy that Everton were brought into discussions without a word of notice.
But Everton boss Roberto Martinez, who worked with Cleverley at Wigan, believes United blocked any chance he had of getting the player on a season-long loan.
‘I am a big admirer of Tom,’ said Martinez. ‘That was an opportunity that we explored on the last day of the window but it couldn’t happen for different reasons. I don’t think there was just one aspect.
‘It’s the parent club that makes that decision. Maybe they just didn’t want to send a player on loan to a club who are going to be challenging for things and finished above them last season, I don’t know.
‘Our information was that the player wasn’t available on loan full stop. You can look at the table from last season and we finished fifth and they finished a bit lower, so from that respect you can understand.
‘But, at the same time, Aston Villa have started the season really well. They are going to be a strong team. But we can’t comment on that, it is down to Manchester United. A situation with Cleverley came up that I was happy to explore. In the end it didn’t work out.’
Cleverley makes his debut on Saturday at Liverpool, where he is expecting a frosty reception after 14 years at Old Trafford.
He added: ‘I am happy to get away from some of the negativity that surrounded me at Man United. I want to get Aston Villa back up in the top half where this club belong. My first target is getting in the Villa team, second is playing well and third is hopefully getting back in the England squad.’
