Marouane Fellaini is an extremely polarizing player, even among his own fan base. Some of those strong feelings are derived from the fact that he was the only major summer transfer window addition of David Moyes in 2013, and therefore has long remained associated with the Scotsman.
However, perceptions are certainly changing now for the better, and they will only continue to improve the more he score goals and helps the team win games.
Fellaini is certainly winning over his remaining detractors in the Manchester United fan base. He scored his third and fourth goals in his last five competitions today, helping give United to a 4-0 home win versus Crystal Palace today. Current United Manager Jose Mourinho has made no secret of his very favorable feelings for Fellaini since he took over the job last year.
He’s selected the big Belgian on many occasions when many think he would not or should not. Mourinho is also working on trying to get a new long term extension for the attacking midfielder. Mourinho’s faith in Fellaini is certainly being rewarded now, and the Portugese said that he’s happy to have changed perceptions of his player. You can certainly see the great chemistry that the two men have and it’s definitely paying off for both; and the team at large.
“We are all managers, we are all different. Sometimes we like players others don’t like, some players perform better with some of us than others and I have examples of players that didn’t perform well with me and did with other managers,” Mourinho said at his postgame news conference.
“I think Marouane has important qualities and I try to use these qualities depending on the situation. He has played with me as defensive midfielder, as second striker, adapted to the needs of the team. He’s a great character, we have a good relation and things are going really well for us.”
While the character of Fellaini is often questioned (many regard him to be one of the dirtiest players on the pitch in the Premier League), Mourinho is strongly going to bat for him on this dimension.
“I think only a strong character would resist the difficulties here because he had some difficult times where people didn’t recognize his qualities and probably other managers didn’t like so much the qualities that he has, so you have to be a strong character.”
“He’s a fighter, a guy with lots of pride. I’m really pleased I helped him to reach this and to change the perception the fans have now, I’m really happy for him.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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