Cleverley a done deal?

He had the chance to come to us on loan last year but went to Villa and only just missed out on it being a permanent deal, so how on earth you think it was a done deal for him to us is beyond me.

Given that he is possibly/probably about to become one of our players I am trying to warm to the idea. I think if it means less time on the pitch for Ossie or Barry then I can get behind it. Both great servants for a long or short time for us but time to step back for the pair of them.....

Ossie has shown what a key and underrated player he is.

I love Ossie when played in the right position. He's alright on the wing for 20 minutes,but he's got neither the pace or the strength to play there from the start.

after stones and jagielka ossie was arguably one of our best players the second half last season

cleverly will probably play left midfield (where he played for wigan) replacing pienaar who's almost always injured

although as others have mentioned he can do a job more centrally, good squad player imo the perfect intermediary between barry phasing out and ledson being introduced

Ossie was never a winger, he just played so well with Pienaar and all our play went through them. We seem more balanced with Martinez and with Lennon/Coleman down the right we should be looking at someone to partner Baines/Garbutt down the left

Ossie simply cannot cover his fullback now and get forward, and in the set up we have that is a problem. He may have played well going forward last year, and with his footballing brain he makes time for himself to make up for his declining mobility, but going back he was a liability at times as Baines or Galloway were left exposed to two attackers going down their flank. that meant a central defender had to go over to help and then we look thin in the middle. Don't get me wrong, I love Ossie, he has been a legend for us but he cannot play out left for us in the midfield style we operate.

Ossie has never been a winger, but being a great pro mean he played out of position without moaning and always gave 100%.

His best position has always been in the middle and Barkley should look at what Ossie does and add it to his game

Spot on, Ross could learn a lot there. Even in his decline I don't think I saw Ossie waste the ball more than a handful of times at Goodison in the second half of the season.

I worry what Martinez has in mind with Baines, Oviedo and particularly Garbutt. He does not seem overly impressed by Garbutt; Ovied may take some time to fully recover from that broken leg he sustined early last Season and, Baines, for me, seemed to struggle to attain his previous form after injury, failed in his crossing and seemed to have been overlooked for his penalty and free-kicking ability of previous seasons.

Wow, look at that.

My sources look to be correct with Cleverley reportedly having a medical right now