Manchester United’s deadline day loan departure Tom Cleverley has hit out at his agent, saying that the man in charge of his career did not act responsibly, with the England international seeing a mooted loan move to Aston Villa almost fall through at the last hurdle, as reported by The Metro.

Both Everton and Aston Villa were reported to be interested in the midfielder, with the Goodison Park club also making a move for his signature.

With the player keen to move away from Old Trafford to reestablish himself, having come under considerable criticism for his displays for the Manchester club, Cleverley was clearly concerned that his move to Villa was on the cusp of collapse.

His agent has become the target of his scorn, suggesting that he was not impressed by his actions.

Cleverley said: “It was just a case of what was going to be the best deal for me and honestly it was more out of my hands than anything.

“It’s a modern-day part of football. Agents are massively involved and sometimes they don’t act as responsibly as they should do. It’s a tough one, it was a crazy day.”

Paul Lambert’s Aston Villa have remained unbeaten in the opening three ties of the Premier League season after acquiring experienced talent to go along some of their highly rated young prospects.

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has admitted that the Goodison Park club missed out on the signature of Manchester United midfield misfit Tom Cleverley this summer, and saw their target make a loan switch to Aston Villa instead, as reported by the Daily Express.

The England international had been targeted by Martinez in a bid to improve his side for the Europa League, but the move did not come to fruition for the former Wigan Athletic boss.

Martinez did, in fact, have Cleverley on loan at Wigan while he was manager there, and the midfielder impressed with the Latics before becoming a part of Man Utd’s first team.

Cleverley has become something of a figure of humour at Man Utd since his return to the club, with many doubting his ability. Martinez clearly thought he could improve a side that will be looking to finish above the Old Trafford club this season.

Regarding the failed move, he said: “Always on the last day of the transfer window opportunities arise and we looked at a couple.

“I felt it was an opportunity for us to add a player to bring something different but at the end it wasn’t right. It didn’t work out.

“We tried to look into a couple of opportunities, but they didn’t come off and the reality is they probably weren’t the right ones.”