Welbeck Deal Thrills Cleverley

Tom Cleverley says he is looking forward to spending many more years at Old Trafford with team-mate and good friend Danny Welbeck after the striker recently extended his contract with Manchester United.

Welbeck and Cleverley have progressed through the ranks together since joining the club as youngsters with both making huge strides for club and country in the last year.

Cleverley, who himself signed a four-year contract last October, was delighted to see Welbeck commit to the Reds for the same term and insisted the striker is an integral part of a highly-talented squad.

"It was great to see Danny sign a new deal. It’s a big boost for us," Cleverley told Inside United. "He’s a fantastic player and someone the manager has great faith in.

"We’ve come up through the ranks together - we know each other so well and how each other plays and hopefully we can get some more game time together. We played some good stuff together last season but got injuries at different times and didn’t get many chances to play together after the first few games. Hopefully that will change this season.

"Danny is a top-class striker and I think he can do big things for both United and England."

Cleverley is hoping to follow suit after starting the season well for the Reds and collecting his first England cap in the friendly win over Italy last month. And he's relishing the opportunity to finally feature in the Champions League after injuries robbed him of the chance last term.

"The way my injuries fell last year meant I didn’t play one Champions League game - playing in it will be another milestone in my career," he added.

"Hopefully we can do a lot better than we did last season. It’s something that has been on our minds - this is a squad full of winners so to underachieve and be knocked out of the group stages really hurt all the players.

"As always, we’ll be going out to win every competition we’re in this season."