It’s starting to look more likely that this could be the final season at Old Trafford for Marouane Fellaini. No progress has been made in contract talks, and if that doesn’t change come January 1, he will be free to negotiate with overseas clubs.
There have been reports that the very tall Belgian will not be sold in the winter transfer window, and thus, if no new contract extension is reached by the end of the year he’ll be able to leave on a free transfer. The 30-year-old attacking midfielder turned down an offer from United in September and has attracted attention from a couple different clubs in both Italy and Turkey.
Fellaini came over from Everton on summer transfer deadline day 2013, and certainly struggled at first, not really finding his way under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal. Jose Mourinho however, has been able to better optimize him, with Fellaini developing into one of his favorite players to select.
Mourinho admits that he is concerned about the situation, as it’s something that he cannot do anything about.
Asked at his weekly news conference on Friday (video here) what he can do to get contract talks moving in the right direction, the Portugese said: “Nothing. It is a discussion between the player and the board.
“I’m not involved in contracts in deals, and I respect both, I respect the player because he has the right, has the right to decide his future, and I respect the board because the decisions and the discussions are under control so I just wait, wishing they will have an understanding but it’s out of my control.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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