Name: Tom Cleverley Date of Birth: 12/08/89 Position: Midfield Club: Wigan (on loan from Manchester United) Previous clubs: Bradford, Watford International caps: England U-21 - 11 (0) Tom Cleverley grew up in Bradford, starting his career there as part of the youth set-up before joining Manchester United in July 2005 at just 15 years of age. In his first season Cleverley made nine appearances for the U-18 side as well as being an unused substitute for the reserve team. Cleverley made his debut for United’s reserves in 2007 and became a regular in the team for the next 12 months, overcoming a long term injury in the process. Cleverley had his first taste of first team action in July 2008 when he was called up for a pre-season tour of South Africa, making his debut against Kaizer Chiefs in the final of the Vodacom Challenge, coming off the bench and scoring. Cleverley was a regular for the reserves in the 2008*2009 season but was given a first team squad number and involved in League Cup games for the club. In January 2009 Cleverley joined Leicester City for the rest of the season and was handed the number 7 shirt. Cleverley made 15 appearances for Leicester before suffering a shoulder injury which required surgery and ended his season. Although Cleverley returned to Manchester United for treatment, he was still awarded a medal when Leicester were crowned champions of League 1. At the start of the 2009/2010 season Cleverley was sent on loan to Watford, Cleverley scored 11 goals in 33 appearances for Watford before he suffered yet another season ending injury. This time is was a knee ligament injury which ended his season in April 2010. At the end of the season Cleverley won Watford’s Player of the Season award. Cleverley returned to Manchester United and was fit for the 2010/2011 pre-season tour of North America. In August, Cleverley signed for Wigan on a season-long loan. He made his Wigan and Premier League debut in September and has become a first team regular, scoring 3 goals. Cleverley has quickly become a favourite with the Wigan fans but his future looks set at Manchester United who highly rate the youngster.
