MOYES BACKS HIS £15M SCAPEGOAT
United offer fans’ target Cleverley massive new deal
MANCHESTER United are ready to give Tom Cleverley — the target of scathing criticism from fans of both the club and England — a new five-year deal worth £15million.
The vote of confidence will be a welcome boost for the 24-year-old midfielder as he bids to cement a place in England’s World Cup squad this summer.
He was booed when his name was read out at Wembley before England’s friendly against Denmark on Wednesday and an online petition calling for him to be axed from Roy Hodgson’s World Cup squad gathered 17,000 signatures.
Hodgson and United manager David Moyes have been angered to see Cleverley made a scapegoat, although the midfielder was not in United’s squad yesterday as they beat West Bromwich Albion 3-0 to keep alive their slim hopes of a top-four Premier League finish — and a place at Europe’s top table next season. Even so, Moyes sees Cleverley as an important player for the future and United are close to agreeing the new deal, which would see his pay rise to £60,000 a week. His current contract runs out at the end of 2015.
Moyes is still intent on strengthening his midfield this summer, with Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus his top targets. But he is unlikely to succeed in tempting Paul Pogba back to the club. The France midfielder left for Juventus on a free transfer in 2012 after failing to agree terms with United but has since developed into one of the best central midfielders in the world — and is now wanted by Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain.