Rochdale v Bradford City: Cleverley sale will help City wipe out £1m deficit

The England international was a junior at Valley Parade before moving to the 13-times Premier League champions at the age of 12.

As part of a deal that has so far netted Bradford around £100,000, a sell-on clause was inserted that will see the Yorkshire club paid 10 per cent of any profit that United make on the sale of Cleverley.

With the 25-year-old – rated at around £8m – attracting interest from a host of clubs that include Hull City, Aston Villa and Valencia, Bradford are hoping a transfer can be struck before the window closes on Monday night.

Following on from the £240,000 that City banked from Wednesday’s Capital One Cup victory over Leeds United, a further cash injection would see the £1m deficit that the Bradford directors had budgeted for this season being wiped out.

With Cleverley’s contract having less than 12 months to run, however, the Bantams may yet get nothing if he leaves on a free next summer.

Meanwhile, joint-chairman 
Julian Rhodes believes the manner of the Bantams’ derby win in midweek can give Phil Parkinson’s side a boost in the league.

He said: “What a night for everyone at Bradford City. I’d said to Phil before the game that it didn’t matter how we won – 9-8 on penalties would have done – but we had to win. It had been 82 years since we’d beaten Leeds at Valley Parade.

“But I never imagined the dramatic way we would do it. As a Bradford fan, I can’t quite think of a better two-and-a-half-minute period than us coming back from 1-0 down to go 2-1 ahead. It was incredible.

“After the Leeds goal, our fans went quiet for about 30 seconds. But then they cranked up the noise and almost forced the players forward.”

The heroes for City, of course, were their goalscorers, midfielder Billy Knott and striker James Hanson.