If you’ve ever paid attention to Man United fan Twitter during a game, then you know the news of Marouane Fellaini leaving the club won’t exactly be devastating to much, if not most of the fanbase. The club confirmed on Friday that Fellaini, 31, has now left the club and joined Shandong Luneng Taishan FC in China.
It has been reported in the English press that United received a transfer fee of £10.5 million for the midfielder, who becomes the fourth ever Belgian to join the Chinese top flight. While widely disliked among United fans much of the time, he does deserve plenty of respect for the roles he fulfilled as he now moves on to the next phase in his career.
The Belgian will always be linked with David Moyes, and hence the severe decline of the club in the post Sir Alex Ferguson era, but he did a good job of carving out a niche for himself under both Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho.
Fellaini was the first and only player signed by David Moyes in his lone summer transfer window of 2013; moving over for £27 million on deadline day.
He was a tremendous flop his first couple years at Old Trafford, but he also had his moments during his five and a half year stint at the Theatre of Dreams.
The midfielder was a big time selection favorite of Jose Mourinho, and played a critical role in the 2017 UEFA Europa League win over Ajax that secured Champions League qualification for the next season.
His 2017-18 season was solid as well, but once Jose Mourinho was ousted, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over, you knew his time with the club was short.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.