Albert arrives as United star Cleverley unveils new football for 2012 Games

Tom Cleverley missed out on his England debut on Wednesday night but the Manchester United star was on hand to unveil the London 2012 Olympics football.

An ankle injury denied the young midfielder from his making international bow in the 3-2 defeat to Holland at Wembley.

On the ball: Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley launches the new adidas Albert 2012 Olympics football

The 22-year-old, capped 16 times at Under 21 level, remains a strong candidate to be picked for the Euro 2012 squad this summer.

But should he miss out on the trip to Poland and Ukraine, Cleverley has a Team GB spot in his sights.

Back of the net: The colourful ball will be used during the Games in both the men's and women's competitions

Cleverley adopted the team's colours as he joined former Olympic gold medalist Jonathan Edwards at Coventry City's Ricoh Arena – one of the Games football venues – the launch new adidas ball, The Albert.

All smiles: Cleverley joins the ball's name creator Bob Ashcroft and triple jump legend Jonathan Edwards at the Ricoh Arena

The colourful design was the brains of Bob Ashcroft, from Derby, who used the cockney rhyming slang 'Albert Hall' as his inspiration behind the name for the ball and he joined Cleverley at Thursday's launch.