He was after 3 years we offered him 1. He then wanted to leave but Mourinho persuaded the club to give him what he wanted. Hes ended up with 2 years and the option of a third, so its more his terms than Utds
Marouane Fellaini signs new contract until 2020 with option of a further year
- Thread starter ash_86
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Thats reads great until you look at his stats last season in the Premier. 4 goals 0 assists.
That would have been a big win if he was 33. He would have secured a 2 year salary irrespective whether he's doing well or age had caught up at him. However things change if you consider his age. At age 30 he's in his prime and he'll probably still be so at age 32. Things might change later on hence why we've got the 2+1 deal.
In my opinion we're the one who ended up on top. We have secured a Belgian international whose in his prime for 2 more years. On the other hand Fellaini has lost his last big pay cheque. He's signing with us knowing that he's a squad player who had fell deeper in the pecking order. That means that he risks losing making it to the Euro which would be his last chance of participating at a major international tournament. Meanwhile if he now wants out then he would have to do it on our terms.
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Disruption can't be translated into stats. Having a 6ft4 mean player upfront towards the end of the game would cause chaos to most defences, most of whom are becoming increasingly vulnerable to crosses and big players upfront. I mean have a look at modern football these days. The typical 80s-90s goal poacher whose lethal in air (ie the likes of Batistuta, Vieri, RVN and Shearer) are a dying breed. In fact old fashioned strikers like Harry Kane are worth their weight in gold.
That is having an effect on defenders too. In fact they are losing both the inches and the experience to deal with a big guy upfront. United is a perfect example to that. When in the past it was unthinkable to have a first team CB whose not 6ft3+ (apart from Bruce who was a freak of nature in air), we now only have 1 CB whose 6ft3+. Bailly, Rojo and Lindelof are 6ft2 while Jones is 6ft. None of the players I mentioned are particularly great in air.
I am not saying Fellaini will be a first team regular. All I am saying is that I can understand why Mourinho and many other managers see him as a viable plan B. Which isn't a humiliating thing either. May I remind you that we win the CL against Bayern because Giggs dribbled past 4 defenders or Beckham scored one of his brilliant freekicks. We won it because we capitalised from 2 scuffles (one from a corner) were Teddy (big guy, not particularly talented but very good in air) sent Bayern's defence into a tilt. Bayern were set in a way to deal with Yorke and Cole who were all pace, trickery and pass to feet football. They couldn't handle someone like Teddy so late in the game especially with Lothar Mattheus (the true brains behind Bayern's defense) out.
Definitely not mate.
So Belgium got "fellainied" last night - sometimes decent option until the end of the game, however, never ever starting quality for a team like Belgium..
We didn't learn anything new yesterday, so I'm surprised at the flurry of posts.
He's an alright player, but his opponents yesterday (Kante, Pogba and Matuidi) are a level above him at least. He's an average MF. Dangerous in the final third and committed, but lacking in finesse, vision and first touch.
He's an aright squad player, but no more than that.
He's an alright player, but his opponents yesterday (Kante, Pogba and Matuidi) are a level above him at least. He's an average MF. Dangerous in the final third and committed, but lacking in finesse, vision and first touch.
He's an aright squad player, but no more than that.
Well I know a hell of a lot has been said about this contract of Fellaini's so I won't bitch about it any more, what's done is done.
This isn't the first time Utd has done this if you consider Rooney's last contract (Moyes) or Moyes giving Nani a new 5 year contract. Looking on the bright side Jose didn't give him a 5 year contract, that is why I say Utd really need a director of football the can lead the club into the direction they want to go, including style of play and players that get new contracts and that are brought in.
Fergie had 26 years to grow with the club and learn how to handle the responsibility of all that power given to him and doing what is best for the club. These new managers we have had/have can't, that is why 5 years after Fergie Utd still look like a ship out at sea without a rudder and City are going from strength to strength. We can point to their oil money but they have a vision and are moving in that direction.
This isn't the first time Utd has done this if you consider Rooney's last contract (Moyes) or Moyes giving Nani a new 5 year contract. Looking on the bright side Jose didn't give him a 5 year contract, that is why I say Utd really need a director of football the can lead the club into the direction they want to go, including style of play and players that get new contracts and that are brought in.
Fergie had 26 years to grow with the club and learn how to handle the responsibility of all that power given to him and doing what is best for the club. These new managers we have had/have can't, that is why 5 years after Fergie Utd still look like a ship out at sea without a rudder and City are going from strength to strength. We can point to their oil money but they have a vision and are moving in that direction.
Fully agree with what you have said, except the bold bit, you and Jose may have completely different visions/opinions on that one.
Shame about Belgium last night. I am a fan of Martinez but he took it too pragmatically, one might say that in fact having Fellaini on the bench would be more pragmatical in fact. Such a shit midfielder, they sacrificed control of the game in midfield to have a chance to cross a ball or two on fellaini's head and somehow score. Put Martens or other midfielder in and it's an even game. I must say I really hate fellaini because no matter how many times he showed he's just not a top midfielder for a top club, he will always be somewhere back in managers head as an option. He should never be even an option for our club. Football can be played differently and won on the ground not just crossing a la david moyes vs Fullham.
Was very sad to see their players De Bruyne and even Hazard unable to combine with anyone decent in midfield, would be a different game and imo they would have a bigger chance. Probably threw away their biggest chance to win world cup because next WC, everyone will be back much stronger
Was very sad to see their players De Bruyne and even Hazard unable to combine with anyone decent in midfield, would be a different game and imo they would have a bigger chance. Probably threw away their biggest chance to win world cup because next WC, everyone will be back much stronger
mate it doesnt fecking matter how well he played individually, the whole Belgium team suffered from his presence, we learnt that at United and everyone knows that that he can have a decent game himself, putting in few tackles and fighting for a ball etc. but his limited brain and technique and absolute shocking mobility means that other players cannot combine with him and play real football. This is not demolition derby but football. If Mourinho overvalues him next season it might be his end too
Did nothing of note again last night except lose his marker for the goal. Poor at the best of times, liability at the worst. I was watching the game in a Sports bar in Barcelona with a French colleague, when he asked me which team the guy with the big hair played for I felt nothing but embarrasament.
Yeah just ignore his performances in the two previous games to fit your narrative...
Agree with pretty much everything you said, there.
But Teddy was not a particularly big guy.
And he was talented. He had an extremely high footballing IQ, which allowed him to be slow, but still be ahead of other players on the pitch. The guy made players around him look good. He was in the England side, paired with Shearer, consistently and I think they went into the latter stages of Euro 96. He was a fantastic player.
A lot of people today, hype up the likes of Rashford and Martial. In 1999, when we had Sherringham, Solkjaer, Cole, Yorke as our attackers, Rashford and Martial would not even have made the bench!
Starting him was a mistake, especially alongside Witsel and a poor Dembele. You can't expect to win trophies if that's your midfield.
That said, taking him off was a mistake too as at that point crossing in towards Fellaini and Lukaku looked their best bet.
Fellaini has had a relatively good world cup tbf. It did highlight what most of us probably know though: Fellaini should only be used as an impact sub or to do a very specific tactical job in very specific circumstances.
That said, taking him off was a mistake too as at that point crossing in towards Fellaini and Lukaku looked their best bet.
Fellaini has had a relatively good world cup tbf. It did highlight what most of us probably know though: Fellaini should only be used as an impact sub or to do a very specific tactical job in very specific circumstances.
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If you embarrass so easily you should've just said he played for Tianjin Quanjian
One thing I do hope is that Jose does not play Fella, as a midfield starter.
All it will take is one loss, with Fella in that position, as a starter and the knives will be out.
All it will take is one loss, with Fella in that position, as a starter and the knives will be out.
Shocking that Martinez left him off the team. Belgium could have used him last night.
Not surprised he didn't make the World Cup squad as sulky knickers retired from International football just under a year ago after being left out of one of the qualifiers when he was returning from injury.
Despite them all being of a similar age(29/30) there's a reason Fellaini, Witsel and Dembele have all got 80+ International caps for Belgium and Nainggolan has only got 30, and it's not just because he's a big drinker, a heavy smoker and is under 5'10"
Witsel was good yesterday. He usually doesnt do much for me but he had plenty of good pieces of play yesterday and I think without him Belgium would have had a much tougher day.
Belgium did turn Fellaini into plan A for a good 30 mins or so of the 2nd half before they subbed him. They kept passing the ball towards Mertens on the right and crossing for Fellaini and Lukaku. When they couldnt get Mertens into a position to cross, they went back inside only to go back out to him and try again.
All the clever players they have and they resorted to what doesn't work for United, putting high balls into the box for Lukaku and Fellaini. Pogba tracked Fellaini back well and won the duels.
Wow, for such an apparent ‘game changer’ that’s abysmal. I’m sure he’s played a part in other goals without directly getting a goal or an assist but that’s piss poor.
Dunno know how accurate that is, don't really care, but it sure is one of your favourite stats
Do you know how many times during those five years he has actually come on in the last 30 minutes ?
I don't think the change was done to get the most out of Fellaini. The way I saw it, they shifted Fellaini to the left to accommodate De Bruyne in the middle, hoping he could take the game by the scruff of its neck. But De Bruyne was just poor all game, and offered nothing in attack. And Fellaini was useless on the left wing for obvious reasons.
France to their credit neutralised Belgium very well. Belgium beat Brazil on the counterattack with their front 3, but France didn't allow that to happen much (if at all).
De Bruyne was just passing the ball to the right like the rest of the Belgium team. They had a very clear gameplan of getting the ball to Mertens on the right wing, whipping the ball in for Fellaini and Lukaku. They no longer went through the middle, it was like United of a few years ago where our only idea is to pass the ball onto the right wing and cross for players in the box.
A complete waste of players like Hazard and De Bruyne.
Nah let's just accept that he is not good enough if we want to be challenging for titles.
Yesterday I was watching the game with some French friends.
The moment Martinez changed Fellaini, they said 'Let's get the champain out, we are through'.
They said 'Today, Belgium had 4 really good players on the pitch: Hazard (MOTM for them), Courtois, Witsel and Fellaini.'
The moment Martinez changed Fellaini, they said 'Let's get the champain out, we are through'.
They said 'Today, Belgium had 4 really good players on the pitch: Hazard (MOTM for them), Courtois, Witsel and Fellaini.'
Yesterday I was watching the game with some French friends.
The moment Martinez changed Fellaini they said 'Let's get the champain out, we are through"
After the game they said 'Belgium had 4 good players on the pitch: Hazard (MOTM), Courtois, Witsel and Fellaini'.
The moment Martinez changed Fellaini they said 'Let's get the champain out, we are through"
After the game they said 'Belgium had 4 good players on the pitch: Hazard (MOTM), Courtois, Witsel and Fellaini'.
He has his uses but he's definitely not a prolific game changer.
I'm sure you don't mate.
but it sure is one of your favourite stats
The guy asked for the info i was only providing a service. Don't know about favourite but it's a telling stat that dispels the myth that Fellaini's a brilliant/great/Goat plan B.
Yes loads of times.
Over the whole 5 years no mate, but over the last 2 seasons around 25-30 times.
Eh, no he didn't. Alderweireld was marking him but totally lost him. Fellani was defending the area around the front post, but it was Alderweireld who lost his man.
You make him sound as if hes Eden Hazard. Hes a player no one else offered a contract to, so we ended up re signing him when he wanted to leave, on virtually his terms, on the basis hes a plan B who very occasionally will come off. Its made us look desperate.
It is his aerial threat. But if you play Fellaini, you lose the midfield possession battle and play boring football. If it is successful, no one cares. If you lose, people look at the players inviting pressure and not delivering. Fellaini being pushed up means he only can contribute with headers and winning second balls.
Teddy was of course a massive upgrade to Fellaini, there again the treble squad is a massive upgrade to what we have today. My argument is that sometimes plan A doesn't work. Yorke and Cole were sensational that season but against Bayern that duo simply didn't cut it. They knew how we played having previously met us in the CL groups and they completely blocked us out. Teddy's different skillset allowed us to change our way so late in the game. That was a killer.
If you take the obvious out of the subject (ie lack of talent to seriously compete for the CL) United has 2 main weakness
a- we've got too many players playing out of position (Fellaini as DM, Valencia/Young as full backs, Mata as winger etc)
b- we have to many players who are similar to one another. That's quite evident on the flanks were all our wingers would prefer to cut inside then cross.
I am not a big fan of Fellaini. However I can understand why Mou wants to keep Fellaini. He's not great but at least he offers something different to what we already have.
I never said that. In matter of fact, his situation is very different to Hazard's. I agree with that assessment but I disagree that we're the one losing in this deal. Fellaini will be returning to a club he previously criticised, he had just kissed good bye to his final big pay cheque and he's committing himself for 2 years despite knowing very well that's he's falling deeper in the pecking order. This move might seriously jeopardise his chance of making it to the EUROs which is his last big major tournament with Belgium. He wasn't even able to force the club to commit to keep him past his expiry date. In matter of fact, we'll only keep him up until he's 32 (or max 33).Thus unless we offer him yet another contract that will top up his new contract then he won't even enjoy the customary 1 year free pay we tend to give to most of our players (Rooney, Carrick, Keane, Giggs, Gaz etc)
Meanwhile Mou has fallen in love with Mctominay (his manager's player of the year), he had added a new CM and he had committed to give more games to Periera. Maybe I'm wrong on this but from my perspective, Fellaini is like that disgruntled employee who left work only to return back only to find out that his boss had already given his desk and the tastiest parts of his job to someone else (Fred). Sure he can stay but he'll now be forced to do the work the intern used to do.
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He started against Brazil though....
I think Martinez made a mistake starting him. Should have been brought on late, around the the 70 min mark. Unlike other players, he does not need time to settle to start doing what he is best at and defenders find it very difficult to deal with his strength and energy that late in the game.
Still a very useful player.
Still a very useful player.
Now that we have Fellaini in our team, performing like a World Class player, I think we can win the league.
Some people wanted a marquee signing.
Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls...I give you Mr M. Fellaini!!!
Some people wanted a marquee signing.
Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls...I give you Mr M. Fellaini!!!
Few entertaining melters in here today haha
If money had been the only motivation, he should have gone to China.
Alderweireld was the one to mark Umtiti.