Fellaini (on his way) out? | Duncan Castles: Fellaini agrees new two year deal

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Entering his sixth season at Manchester United.

Ronaldo was only with us for 6 seasons.
Berbatov 4 seasons.

Have we ever had a big money signing that struggled,stay at the club so long? I worry Jose’s trust in Fellaini could cost him his job. This guy wouldn’t get into any other top side, why do we persist?
I suppose it means we can use our budget for a different area, but I haven’t seen anything come from Jose that suggests his interested in a big money forward/RW signing.
 
Renegade said:
Entering his sixth season at Manchester United.

Ronaldo was only with us for 6 seasons.
Berbatov 4 seasons.

Have we ever had a big money signing that struggled,stay at the club so long? I worry Jose’s trust in Fellaini could cost him his job. This guy wouldn’t get into any other top side, why do we persist?
I suppose it means we can use our budget for a different area, but I haven’t seen anything come from Jose that suggests his interested in a big money forward/RW signing.
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Anderson was here for 8 years.
 
Renegade said:
Entering his sixth season at Manchester United.

Ronaldo was only with us for 6 seasons.
Berbatov 4 seasons.

Have we ever had a big money signing that struggled,stay at the club so long? I worry Jose’s trust in Fellaini could cost him his job. This guy wouldn’t get into any other top side, why do we persist?
I suppose it means we can use our budget for a different area, but I haven’t seen anything come from Jose that suggests his interested in a big money forward/RW signing.
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You can imagine Jose coming out after the window shuts and saying that Felllaini is our most important signing of the summer. Goodness knows how that makes his more talented team mates feel.
 
No problem with that news. If Fellaini resigning means that we won't need to spend our limited funds on a second midfielder, we should be happy. Especially if that means we buy a LB now, which seemed unlikely according to recent reports.
 
I think I saw somewhere before that Woodward monitors social media interaction over united news. If that's the case then Woodward, mourinho the whole lot of them need to be sacked. The fact that this fella can treat the club thé way he has and manage to get a new deal with better terms is blatant mismanagement. This is not the united I grew up supporting.
 
Pexbo said:
Anderson was here for 8 years.
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Very good one, last couple seasons he was stealing a living haha. Although we did sign him as a young player before his peak. I’m going out and saying Anderson’s contribution to UTD > Fellaini’s. Haha
 
Mourinho doesn't even let him play as midfielder, he'd play as a number 10 and will hang around the box. The only reason I want Fellaini to leave is that, he offers a lazy and an easy fix for our attack when they face a deep defence. Instead of passing well to open up tight defences, we'd resort to sub in Fellaini and try to cross it like Moyes' United.
 
K2K said:
Herrera has not been consistently better than Fellaini at all.


First and second season there wasn't much between them. Herrera was woeful at times with Fellaini being one of the major reasons we qualified for the UCL. Herrera's performance away at West Ham particularly standing out .

Third season Herrera was better with him winning our POTY .

Fourth season Fellaini was better with Herrera having a shocking season.

This is the worst thing about the Fellaini haters. Straight out lying and rewriting history.

Both this guys are inconsistent. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses. And both can be improved upon but are useful squad options.
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really?

I disagree with you, mostly on the 'Fellaini haters bit' - can't stand that immaturity that if you don't deem a player to be technically good enough you are a hater - also those first two seasons Herrera performed generally well but wasn't played by Van Gaal in many of the games IMO

last season for me our best football came in the games where Matic - Herrera - Pogba formed a midfield 3. Admittedly Herrera was shit for the first half of the season but what did Fellaini contribute - sure he can grab the odd goal but what do we sacrifice in terms of style of play

out of interest, if you are someone who thinks that Fellaini should be in the team ahead of Herrera what exactly do you think he contributes to that midfield? Or do you want us to play the long ball style that Mourinho employed to great effect in that game against Sevilla where Fellaini started ahead of Pogba
 
Mourinho better deliver next season and hits the ground running as he has nowhere to hide now if this news is to be believed.
 
Hardly surprising, the tactical masterclass of 'Plan B' needed protecting, so I'm sure Ed was under pressure to get it done.

Heaven forbid we actually evolve our play.
 
buckooo1978 said:
why would he be behind Herrera? seriously?

I suppose it depends on how you want your team to play. If you prefer the engine room of your team to include a player with limited technical ability, limited passing range and someone who's key attribute is causing chaos in the opposition box then Fellaini is your man

Herrera had a drop in form last season in a United side where all players had a drop in form at some point. He has played better than Fellaini consistently and is obviously a technically superior player.

it's not an absolute disaster if Fellaini stays but if Jose starts throwing him in from the start in crucial games like he did v Sevilla it will be a disaster
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Fellaini has been better than Herrera for the past 3 years, simple as that. Both are limited players but Fellaini has played key roles in our cup campaigns. Last season he was putting in a few decent performances after Pogba's injury while Herrera was at his worst.

But this whole debate is overdone, they are both average players anyway. I'd rather see one of them leave for an upgrade, not particularly arsed about which one.
 
redIndianDevil said:
Mourinho doesn't even let him play as midfielder, he'd play as a number 10 and will hang around the box. The only reason I want Fellaini to leave is that, he offers a lazy and an easy fix for our attack when they face a deep defence. Instead of passing well to open up tight defences, we'd resort to sub in Fellaini and try to cross it like Moyes' United.
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the issue was that there were times that Fellaini did play as a deep midfielder where he hasn't the skillset to play in that role

Fellaini needs to play in that role behind/around the striker as you say - if Fellaini is starting games in that role you have to question our creativity
 
Kapardin said:
Fellaini has been better than Herrera for the past 3 years, simple as that. Both are limited players but Fellaini has played key roles in our cup campaigns. Last season he was putting in a few decent performances after Pogba's injury while Herrera was at his worst.

But this whole debate is overdone, they are both average players anyway. I'd rather see one of them leave for an upgrade, not particularly arsed about which one.
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Yeah, Fellaini looks good next to De Gea.

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buckooo1978 said:
the issue was that there were times that Fellaini did play as a deep midfielder where he hasn't the skillset to play in that role

Fellaini needs to play in that role behind/around the striker as you say - if Fellaini is starting games in that role you have to question our creativity
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I think Mourinho will start him against teams like City, Liverpool too, in order to beat their pressing, ideally we want our team to pass well but as long as Mourinho is there, I don't see it happening. I don't see Fellaini starting in the midfield role now that we have signed Fred as well. But in matches where Mourinho will aim for a 1-0 we will see Fellaini starting.
 
C'est Moi Cantona said:
Hardly surprising, the tactical masterclass of 'Plan B' needed protecting, so I'm sure Ed was under pressure to get it done.

Heaven forbid we actually evolve our play.
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This. Instead of improving our poor attacking, we will be resorting to hoof it up to Fellaini and Lukaku next season.
 
Fer said:
Mourinho said that he will sign another CM if we sell Fellaini. But if he is staying, then I think we will have Matic Pogba, Fred, Herrera, Fellaini, Pereira, McTominay for the 3 positions.
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Yeah I read that Jose wants to sign replacements for both Carrick and Fellaini. So if we are not signing anymore midfielders, does that mean Fred is our Carrick replacement?
 
In the American NBA... they have a salary cap that impedes you from signing new players... however in the EPL... to my knowledge you can sign as many players as one can afford.

I don't get why the signing of Fellaini should offend so many as even if you don't fancy him as a player... by signing him we keep him away from any of the top six or seven teams.

Fellaini's good enough at his niche specialty to hire simply to keep him from using it against us. I had no problem with him going away to play Turkey... but I certainly didn't want to see him playing at Everton again, or replacing Giroud's old role at Arsenal.
 
redIndianDevil said:
I think Mourinho will start him against teams like City, Liverpool too, in order to beat their pressing, ideally we want our team to pass well but as long as Mourinho is there, I don't see it happening. I don't see Fellaini starting in the midfield role now that we have signed Fred as well. But in matches where Mourinho will aim for a 1-0 we will see Fellaini starting.
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It's acceptable in those few games I agree where the result matters - Fellaini was employed to good success most memorably vrs Liverpool in that Juanfield game

if you look at us beating City most recently it was a midfield 3 of Herrera/Matic/Pogba. Fellaini didn't play in the wins over Liverpool or Chelsea either. I wonder how much of a myth it is that you need Fellaini to beat a press?

I hope you are right about Fred but whilst Fellaini is there and Mourinho is as negative/ultra-pragmatic as he is I think Fellaini will start more games than he should. It was scandalous the way we set up in the CL knockout tie against Sevilla
 
feck me. Bantered off by Fellaini who literally spent all year looking elsewhere now we’ve given him a 2 year deal rather than the one year extension we were initially offering? :lol:
 
I honestly think people are missing the point here.

We have in midfield: Pogba, Matic, Fred, Herrera, McTominay and if he signs: Fellaini.

By keeping Fellaini, we’ll be able to focus funds on key areas like Fullback and Right Wing. It’s not ideal by any stretch and for most of us he represents a best forgotten era and the wrong style of play but if we are going to play 4-3-3 next season, which is likely, we can’t be going into it with only 5 midfielders and I’m not sure we would find a better player for less than £40m who will also accept a squad role.

When you compare Fellaini to the other options: Fellaini is free, settled at the club, settled in the league and likely to accept the limited role offered to him. You’ll be hard pushed to find a better option than that without a Football Manager approach.
 
Kapardin said:
Fellaini has been better than Herrera for the past 3 years, simple as that. Both are limited players but Fellaini has played key roles in our cup campaigns. Last season he was putting in a few decent performances after Pogba's injury while Herrera was at his worst.

But this whole debate is overdone, they are both average players anyway. I'd rather see one of them leave for an upgrade, not particularly arsed about which one.
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The actual feck :wenger::wenger::wenger:
 
Pexbo said:
I honestly think people are missing the point here.

We have in midfield: Pogba, Matic, Fred, Herrera, McTominay and if he signs: Fellaini.

By keeping Fellaini, we’ll be able to focus funds on key areas like Fullback and Right Wing. It’s not ideal by any stretch and for most of us he represents a best forgotten era and the wrong style of play but if we are going to play 4-3-3 next season, which is likely, we can’t be going into it with only 5 midfielders and I’m not sure we would find a better player for less than £40m who will also accept a squad role.

When you compare Fellaini to the other options: Fellaini is free, settled at the club, settled in the league and likely to accept the limited role offered to him. You’ll be hard pushed to find a better option than that without a Football Manager approach.
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Good points. I agree. Just need to sing those fullbacks and a right winger though.
 
Pexbo said:
I honestly think people are missing the point here.

We have in midfield: Pogba, Matic, Fred, Herrera, McTominay and if he signs: Fellaini.

By keeping Fellaini, we’ll be able to focus funds on key areas like Fullback and Right Wing. It’s not ideal by any stretch and for most of us he represents a best forgotten era and the wrong style of play but if we are going to play 4-3-3 next season, which is likely, we can’t be going into it with only 5 midfielders and I’m not sure we would find a better player for less than £40m who will also accept a squad role.

When you compare Fellaini to the other options: Fellaini is free, settled at the club, settled in the league and likely to accept the limited role offered to him. You’ll be hard pushed to find a better option than that without a Football Manager approach.
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We could easily just retain Andreas Pereira who is more than good enough to be sixth choice/joint fifth with McTominay midfielder.
 
Not surprised, had been mentally preparing for this. The lack of news about a likely destination was always a sign.


This better bloody mean we spend big on a LB and RW though. No excuses.
 
Judas said:
Not surprised, had been mentally preparing for this. The lack of news about a likely destination was always a sign.


This better bloody mean we spend big on a LB and RW though. No excuses.
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This. People should be pleased we can allocate funds towards some more pressing needs in the team, it's not all doom and gloom. One more season from Fellaini and next year we go for another MF.
 
Lack of ambition from United

The club is going in a worrying direction where retweets are more important than football matches
 
People are saying he's held the club random, that's jumping the gun a little isn't it? We already know the club offered him a new contract which he didn't agree to. How do you know this agreement isn't closer to the clubs demands and not fellainis? Seems to me he thought he'd get a move to a big club, and he couldn't.
 
Pexbo said:
I honestly think people are missing the point here.

We have in midfield: Pogba, Matic, Fred, Herrera, McTominay and if he signs: Fellaini.

By keeping Fellaini, we’ll be able to focus funds on key areas like Fullback and Right Wing. It’s not ideal by any stretch and for most of us he represents a best forgotten era and the wrong style of play but if we are going to play 4-3-3 next season, which is likely, we can’t be going into it with only 5 midfielders and I’m not sure we would find a better player for less than £40m who will also accept a squad role.

When you compare Fellaini to the other options: Fellaini is free, settled at the club, settled in the league and likely to accept the limited role offered to him. You’ll be hard pushed to find a better option than that without a Football Manager approach.
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Absolutely agree. For me if we signed him today on a free I'd be thinking yep makes sense, not gonna start and offers a plan B/C if we get stuck chasing a game. Like you say though, some wont forgive him as he is a constant reminder of a period here that people would rather forget. Good squad player that can play in a few positions.
 
SalfordRed18 said:
People are saying he's held the club random, that's jumping the gun a little isn't it? We already know the club offered him a new contract which he didn't agree to. How do you know this agreement isn't closer to the clubs demands and not fellainis? Seems to me he thought he'd get a move to a big club, and he couldn't.
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Contract as suggested to 2020 would imply that we gave in to his demands.
 
You have to say well played Fellaini. He's got to play for a club way beyond his limits for 5 years, being crap, got a pay increase and a contract extension, knows the fans don't rate him, you have to admire his balls. What a joke.
 
Pexbo said:
I honestly think people are missing the point here.

We have in midfield: Pogba, Matic, Fred, Herrera, McTominay and if he signs: Fellaini.

By keeping Fellaini, we’ll be able to focus funds on key areas like Fullback and Right Wing. It’s not ideal by any stretch and for most of us he represents a best forgotten era and the wrong style of play but if we are going to play 4-3-3 next season, which is likely, we can’t be going into it with only 5 midfielders and I’m not sure we would find a better player for less than £40m who will also accept a squad role.

When you compare Fellaini to the other options: Fellaini is free, settled at the club, settled in the league and likely to accept the limited role offered to him. You’ll be hard pushed to find a better option than that without a Football Manager approach.
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Good post.
 
United Pro said:
No problem with that news. If Fellaini resigning means that we won't need to spend our limited funds on a second midfielder, we should be happy. Especially if that means we buy a LB now, which seemed unlikely according to recent reports.
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Why? Jose hardly ever plays him as a midfielder, more of a plan C impact striker
 
I have always expected him to stay mainly because it is so obvious no one will pay him what we are currently paying him, even on a free transfer.

Mourinho has bought Fred so we have plenty of players ahead of him in pecking order now, if things go to plan he won’t start many games, if the manger rated him that highly he wouldn’t have bought 3 midfielders in 2 years.

As always if Fellaini is playing regularly it’s a sign things have gone wrong so by that point it won’t matter that he isn’t good enough.
 
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