Manchester United are poised to overcommit to midfielder
Manchester United need to be careful
Marouane Fellaini has enjoyed an amazingly productive start to his 2017/18 campaign. That doesn’t mean Manchester United should be in any rush to hand him a bumper new contract.
Unfortunately for fans of the Red Devils, that’s reportedly just what the club intend to do. More specifically, Jose Mourinho is desperate to keep hold of the Belgian midfielder. Various sources claim he and the board at United are at odds over Fellaini’s status.
It’s pretty easy to see which side is going to win out. Given United and Fellaini’s hot starts to the campaign, he’ll certainly get a new contract. The fact that he’s playing such good football just as he enters the last year in his current deal is certainly fortuitous for the towering midfielder.
Don’t get me wrong, Fellaini can be a useful player. He’s clearly shown that this year for Mourinho. He’s already found the back of the net three times in just six Premier League appearances. His Whoscored.com player rating average of 7.59 places him fifth in the squad. There’s no doubting the effectiveness of his play this season.
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The real question United should be asking is how much can Fellaini be worth going forward. He’s already 29-years-old which means his game is likely to slow down considerably over the course of a new contract. He’s not a player who bases his game on speed and athleticism, but at some point he’s going to become too slow to trust as a defensive midfielder.
Many United fans thought he was already too slow to be in the squad last season. Compensating him based on the relatively small sample size of six domestic matches and one Champions League start would be a serious mistake. It’s a mistake that United seems poised to make.
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The combination of Fellaini’s hot start and Mourinho’s insistence on getting him a new contract is going to drive the Belgian’s price up considerably. It’s not going to be enough money to really damage the club on its own, but it will cost them some financial flexibility down the line. United fans should be prepared to see their club overpay an aging midfielder due to the wishes of their stubborn manager.