Marouane Fellaini caused a big fuss this week when he sat on his big sofa in his big house and put the world to rights.
Speaking like some of us do when the bar has long closed, Fellaini’s ‘and another thing’ speech to Sport/Foot took in the slaughter of Jamie Carragher, fans not appreciating him, and Manchester United being unwise with their contract negotiations.
Fellaini was more or less saying he has his club over a barrel and therefore holds the sway in negotiations. It would appear that’s through luck rather than cunning, because openly saying such a thing isn’t the best manoeuvre he could make.
Anyway, over at Belgium’s HLN it’s reported Fellaini has received his final contract offer, and the player’s entourage are giving the impression he wants to stay. There’s some masculine appreciation going on between Mourinho and Big Felli and at a basic level it’s no surprise the pair want to stay together.
But there’s a problem. There’s always a problem.
Manchester United are said to be offering a one year contract with a further year option (the conditions of which aren’t stated in the report) and Fellaini would like the security of a two year deal.
His agents will soon meet with Ed Woodward to see if a solution can be found, amid interest from the Premier League (surely those Liverpool claims weren’t correct), Italy and Turkey.
Now, to be fair to Fellaini, and occasionally someone has to be, asking for a two year deal isn’t exactly wanting a herd of unicorns delivered to his front door.
Manchester United may have done differently previous with players over 30 (Fellaini hit the big three oh in November) but things change, and if he’s being offered two, three, maybe more years elsewhere then it’s going to be an issue.
