Last night’s Europa League semi-final saw Manchester United narrowly edge out Spanish side Celta Vigo to reach the final, where they face off with legendary Dutch outfit Ajax. United came through as 2-1 winners over the two legs, escaping with a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last night which was enough to see them claim victory. The scorer last night? The divisive Marouane Fellaini, who continues to provide much debate to United fans over whether he should remain at the club.
Signed from Everton in the summer of 2013 for £27.5m, Fellaini is now in his fourth season at United and is serving under his fourth manager in that time too, Portuguese boss Jose Mourinho. Although this season has seen him make his 100th appearance for United – against former club Everton – and he’s also signed an extension to his contract to keep him at Old Trafford until the end of next season, speculation still surrounds his future.
For me, United would be better off dispensing of the Belgian, and here are five reasons why.
#1 The fans don’t really like him
It’s harsh to say this, but Fellaini isn’t exactly a popular figure amongst the United fanbase. As the most successful English club of the last two decades, United’s fans are used to having nothing but the best players amongst the ranks, and for them, Fellaini just doesn’t fit that image. Not when he’s surrounded by superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Juan Mata, and up-and-comers like Marcus Rashford.
Part of the problem with Fellaini may be the fact that he’s so intrinsically linked with the disastrous David Moyes regime at United, which didn’t even last a full season in the end.
While United were linked to all sorts of players in Moyes’ first season in charge, Fellaini – a man who’d served under Moyes at Everton – turned out to be the club’s major signing that summer. He just wasn’t the sort of marquee player the fans wanted and so it was always going to be an uphill struggle for him.
Against former club Everton earlier in the season, Fellaini came on as a substitute, and within two minutes of being on the pitch he’d given away a penalty and allowed the Toffees to escape with a 1-1 draw. The gaffe saw him viciously booed by his own fans and there was even a petition put together on Change.org to encourage United to get rid of the Belgian. If his own fans don’t want him, then why should Mourinho keep him?
#2 His disciplinary record is appalling
One massive reason that United ought to consider for getting rid of Fellaini is his terrible disciplinary record. This season has seen him pick up ten yellow cards and one red card for United, last season it was seven yellows, and the season before that it was seven yellows and one red. And of course, he isn’t a regular starter for United which makes that record even worse.
It isn’t just bookings and sendings-off which are an issue, either – last May saw him banned for three games following an incident with Leicester’s Robert Huth that wasn’t seen by the referee but was caught on camera; Fellaini was seen elbowing the German defender.
United aren’t strangers to having combative players amongst their squad – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for instance, is no angel, and historically some of the Premier League’s most explosive players have called Old Trafford their home – Paul Ince, Eric Cantona and in particular Roy Keane come instantly to mind. The difference though is that all of those players were world-class talents in their prime and offered far more to United than Fellaini does.
With a disciplinary record as bad as that – and a playing style that is likely to garner more bookings due to the liberal use of his elbows – Fellaini is simply a liability that United just don’t need to be carrying next season.
#3 Nobody is really sure what he does
Versatility can often be a great attribute as a footballer, and the ability to play multiple positions is often something a manager craves in a player. Fellaini’s United teammate Wayne Rooney, for instance, has been deployed as a striker, a deep-lying playmaker and even a winger during his time at Old Trafford.
Fellaini, however, is versatile in a different way, that being mainly that nobody is really sure what his best position is and what exactly he offers to the team. Under Everton, he made his name largely as a box-to-box midfielder, but at United – partially due to the three changes in managers he’s seen in his time there – it doesn’t seem like anyone really knows how to deploy the afro-sporting Belgian.
Moyes used him largely in a similar role to the one he had at Everton, but Louis van Gaal tended to feature him more as a striker, in a battering ram-type role.
His goal return just doesn’t justify his role as a forward though, even when you take into account the nuisance he makes of himself in the penalty box. Last season saw him score just four goals in 34 appearances and this season he’s managed the same number despite making 45 appearances.
But as a midfielder, he doesn’t seem to really be in Mourinho’s plans either, especially as a starter. The Portuguese has largely preferred starting Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba together in United’s midfield, and with the likes of Juan Mata and Michael Carrick still at the club too, it seems like Fellaini is a dispensable part.
#4 Manchester United can do better
Despite not being in the Champions League this season, the acquisitions of Paul Pogba – for a world record transfer fee – and Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed the world that United still have the power to attract the world’s best players to Old Trafford. And it’s hardly surprising – they’re still one of the best-supported clubs on the planet as well as one of the richest.
That’s why really, there’s no reason for them to keep hold of someone like Fellaini when they can simply go out and buy a far better player. The club have basically been linked with every player under the sun over the past few months, ranging from Renato Sanches to Kylian Mbappe to Dele Alli.
If they can truly go out and buy a world-class player or two – and there’s no reason to doubt them in the post-Pogba world – then why would they need the Belgian?
If United manage to overcome Ajax in the final of the Europa League, the point expands further as Mourinho’s side will have punched a one-way ticket to next season’s Champions League. Champions League football – along with a ton of money – seems to be the one thing most craved by top players these days and last summer it was basically the only thing that United couldn’t offer.
If they could offer it again then suddenly every world-class player on the planet becomes a viable target. Which should leave someone like Fellaini out in the cold.
#5 He can still command a decent fee
While Fellaini probably isn’t a United-calibre player, that doesn’t mean he’s not talented enough to play a huge part for another Premier League club. During his time at Everton, for instance, he was arguably their key man, and I don’t think there can be any doubt that there’d be a queue of suitors looking to sign the Belgian if he became available tomorrow.
While his disciplinary record was pretty terrible at Everton too – in his first season he was booked ten times in seventeen games, and 2012/13 saw him banned for headbutting Ryan Shawcross of Stoke – certain Premier League teams would probably welcome that style as they look to rough up the more cultured sides of the league like Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.
He’s the sort of player Tony Pulis at West Bromwich Albion or Mark Hughes at Stoke City would give their eye teeth for.
Would he command the near-£30m fee that United paid to sign him four seasons ago? Perhaps not, but realistically United don’t need the money and to be fair, with the money from TV rights still flooding into the Premier League, a team like Stoke may well be willing to shell out big bucks for him. Lest we forget, they spent £13m to bring Joe Allen in from Liverpool, which means the money is there.
The bottom line is that Fellaini likely wouldn’t be difficult to offload – which is why Mourinho ought to do it now, with a year remaining on his contract.
