Tom Cleverley wants Aston Villa to win Premier League, admits Unai Emery concern and has say on Wayne Rooney

In the second part of a Ladbrokes: Fanzone exclusive, Tom Cleverley spoke about Aston Villa’s chances of winning the Premier League, his concerns about Unai Emery and his hopes for Wayne Rooney at Birmingham.

Click on the link for part one in which the former Manchester United midfielder discussed the current Red Devils squad.

I’d love to see Aston Villa win Premier League title

I want Aston Villa to win the Premier League, obviously. I can’t really speak as a neutral on this one because I spent a season at Villa, but it’s an absolutely fantastic football club. They’re a real, traditional, English football club. If you’re a foreigner and you want to know what English football is all about, you’ve got to go to Aston Villa. The training ground, the stadium and, the values of the football club are tremendous. I think it’s a little bit early in the season to be really talking about them as title contenders, but one point off top spot in December, and off the back of the Leicester City story from a few seasons ago, I suppose everyone can dream!

I’d say there’s four teams in it: Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa and Manchester City. Spurs are playing some fantastic football, but you just wonder whether that squad is big enough, and whether they can avoid defeat in enough games, playing with that high line. We’re down to four, I’d say, in the title race, and I’d love to see Villa win it.

I spent a season on loan there. We had Paul Lambert and Tim Sherwood, and we reached a cup final that year. It was a tough relegation-battled season in which we just about managed to stay up, and reach that cup final. That season saw the emergence of Jack Grealish, and we had some great players like Fabian Delph, Christian Benteke, Ron Vlaar…I just love the place.

I love the stadium. It’s one of my favourite grounds in world football, with the Holte End. The tradition, the pitch was always perfect, I always loved playing at Villa Park. It’s just a classy football club, you know? I’m really, really glad to see them with a top manager, doing so well.

Depth would be one concern for me, possibly. I think this year, though, they’ll be all right, because in the Conference League, you can get away with playing a completely different starting XI. As you’ve seen with Newcastle this year, if you’re playing in the Champions League, you can’t get away with that. So if they were to make the top four this season, they would have to add numbers, for sure.

Jhon Duran does all right, for me, coming in when Ollie Watkins doesn’t play, but you’d think they’d need another striker. Ezri Konsa has been playing as a full-back recently, so maybe that’s an area they might look to strengthen? Listen, they’ve got a great squad. I think the key to it all, though, is the manager.

I don’t think they’ve got a single signing wrong under Unai Emery, they look incredibly organised in every game they play. Their home record is outstanding. I don’t think you’d want to upset the applecart and start adding players for the sake of it. I think it’s just a case of strength in numbers for them. As you’ve seen with Newcastle, especially with Champions League football, three or four injuries and you’re massively stretched.

My worry with Unai Emery

The one thing that everyone will ask about Unai Emery, though, is will he want to be a success at one of the super clubs one day? He’s had massive success at Sevilla, Villarreal, Villa…all of whom are big clubs. But the expectation is not as high as it would be at Real Madrid, Man United, Liverpool, Man City, Bayern Munich…You know, would he himself want to try and prove himself at that level? That’s no disrespect to Aston Villa, because he’s already at a fantastic club there. But I still think there’s a question mark over him, which he must ask himself. Can he do it at a top, top level?

I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s easier when there’s less expectation. There’s hardly any expectation on Villa to win the league, and it’s probably easier, therefore, to ride the wave a little, whereas last season at Arsenal, say, there was an expectation to win the league – and that was ultimately their downfall.

My message to Rooney and Blues

Wazza is a football man. His experience as a player is second to none. He’s not just been like a Giggsy, where Giggsy was unbelievably experienced, but all he knew was challenging for titles at Man United. Wazza went down to a struggling Everton team, he went abroad, he came back and played for Derby in the Championship, so he had a lot of different experiences as a player as well.

He’s a massively passionate football man, with a wealth of knowledge. I can’t comment too much on how he is in a dressing room because I’ve never seen it. But he’ll have the immediate respect of the players.

What I will say is that it’s never easy to go into a club which wasn’t really failing, at the time. The bar had been set high by John Eustace, and it was a rare occasion whereby they were probably overachieving, actually, and then they changed managers.

The expectation is probably a little too high on Birmingham and Wazza at the moment. But you’ve got to give him time to implement his own way of playing. I’m sure he’ll get that time and he’ll get it right in the end.

Jed Wallace is the Albion player I’d love to have in my team

I’d be lying if I said I’ve seen a lot of West Brom this season. With my job being in academy football, when I do get spare time, I do like to watch Premier League football or Watford. But I’ve always, always liked Jed Wallace. I think he’s a fantastic player. The amount of crosses he puts in, the energy he gives, the intelligence…and the goals he gets from midfield, to add to that. He’s been one of the most consistent performers in the Championship over the last five years or so. If I could take anyone from West Brom’s team, it would be Jed Wallace.