The honour of captaining Manchester United for one game on tour might not carry quite the same significance for Tom Cleverley as it did for Wayne Rooney, but the England midfielder hopes it is an indication of an equally bright future for him under Louis van Gaal’s management.

Cleverley’s decline at Old Trafford last season was one of the more regrettable aspects of the David Moyes debacle.

Often played out of position and then not at all, a midfielder who had shown such promise under Sir Alex Ferguson even became a target for his own supporters.

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It came to a head with a spiteful internet petition to have Cleverley (below) axed from England’s World Cup squad.

Roy Hodgson defended him, but a lack of playing time at United ultimately cost the player a place on the plane to Brazil.

Cleverley, who turns 25 next week, used the summer to take stock. He went on holiday with his partner Georgina Dorsett and their baby daughter, Nevaeh, and came back determined to fight for his Old Trafford future under Van Gaal.

The reports from the manager’s Dutch coaching staff have been so positive that Cleverley played in every game on tour and was made captain for the victory over Roma in Denver.

It would be no surprise at all if a contract that is due to run out next summer is now extended, amid strong interest from Everton.

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Cleverley admits he was hurt by the criticism but it has only made him more determined to prove his detractors wrong.

‘It makes you develop a lot thicker skin,’ he said. ‘You’ve just got to take it on the chin. It’s football.

‘Fans are passionate and they like to see their team win. And when their team isn’t winning, they’ve got a right to look at the team. I will use it as a learning curve and not dwell on it as a negative.

‘Yeah, I got a bit of stick. It does hurt when it comes from your own fans, I suppose it would anyone really. I definitely want to prove a few people wrong.

‘But I’m not here to talk about David Moyes. We’ve got a clear way we are going to play under the new manager. We all believe in that, we are all following that and I think the main thing is we are playing as a team again.

‘Under the new manager we are being told to think of things as a team but personally it has gone well. I definitely think I can fit into the way he plays. I don’t think I have got to make much adaptation because he likes passers, movers, and people who understand the game.

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‘I’ve got minutes under my belt out here, I feel fit, we’ve won every game, one of them on penalties. We’re back being a top team together.

‘I would still have loved to have gone (to the World Cup) but I think I made it hard for myself to go to Brazil with not playing in the last three months of the season.

‘I played in a lot of the qualifiers, but I’m not bitter about it. I’m fully hoping to get back into the squad and help us get to the next Euros.’

Cleverley acknowledges that fatherhood has also played a part in his resurgence.