Marouane Fellaini was not the star name many Manchester United fans were hankering after but Alex Dunn argues the transfer make senses and that the Belgian will add a new dimension to David Moyes' squad at Old Trafford
Thursday 5 September 2013 08:59, UK
Why Manchester United's big money acquisition of Marouane Fellaini makes sound sense.
In a Manchester restaurant late on Monday evening a group of United supporters were overheard loudly lamenting the club's transfer policy amid a myriad of failed bids for that elusive box-to-box midfielder. Dessert was ruined as news filtered through of an attempt to sign Ander Herrera having faltered, while for one diner coffee has never tasted more bittersweet than when the yellow ticker confirmed that Marouane Fellaini had become the club's fourth most expensive signing ever at £27.5million, some £4million over his release clause that expired on July 31. When the bill arrived another was heard to mutter 'the food here is terrible - and such small portions'. That story borrowed heavily from Annie Hall and there is a pervading sense that another Woody Allen quote, 'confidence is what you have before you understand the problem' best describes a summer transfer window overseen by David Moyes and vice-chairman Ed Woodward. From calamitous to disastrous to plain incompetent the epitaphs have not made pretty reading. The spectres of Sir Alex and David Gill are proving as haunting to their successors as Don Revie's was to Brian Clough back in 1974. Fellaini's signature has been interpreted by many to be almost an afterthought. Moyes settling for a Bully Tankard when if he'd gambled he might have woken up on Tuesday morning with a spanking new speedboat on his drive. Super, smashing, not so great. Moyes has conceded he's operating in a different market these days and at times he's had the look of the lottery winner not quite sure of the etiquette in Harrods. It's a point perhaps best illuminated by Michael Calvin in his book The Nowhere Men, via an interview with Moyes' head of technical scouting at Everton, James Smith: "If Manchester City waste twenty million, which they've actually done at times, it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things. So twenty on Jo, twenty on Roque Santa Cruz. If Everton waste £20million we'll wait a long time to get anything like that again. David Moyes spends the money likes it's his own." It's a philosophy that tends to be appreciated in boardrooms and would explain a reluctance to meet Herrera's buyout clause set at £30.5million by Athletic Bilbao. Purported failed bids for Thiago Alcantara, Cesc Fabregas, Leighton Baines, Fabio Coentrao, Sami Khedira, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Wesley Sneijder and Herrera may give the impression of a manager operating with wanton abandon but it stretches credulity to breaking point to suggest Moyes is picking targets by sticking a pin in his Rothmans. Say what you like about the Scot but his professionalism is unimpeachable. The research that went into potential signings at Everton was exhaustive to the nth degree, according to Calvin: "Moyes has produced what he calls an 'MOT Test', where players are judged against a checklist of up to 12 criteria for each position. The optimum aim is to have up to 50 reports on a primary transfer target, written by between ten and twelve scouts'. To his detractors his whispered moniker of Dithering Dave is well earned but as Arsene Wenger is always quick to attest, it's better to buy right than to buy big. United supporters may have preferred Mesut Ozil to Fellaini but there's not much call for speedboats in Manchester. Ferguson may have ruled the club with an iron fist in an iron glove but his relationship with his players was fatherly at times, albeit with adoption papers always close to hand. The trust he held in his senior players is well documented and yet Moyes' bond with his former charges is seen as a slight rather than strength. Fellaini has become shorthand for 'safe', but at £27.5million is safe not a good thing? Had Herrera, who if reports are to be believed will be targeted again in January, been snared on deadline day the mood would have been jubilant. That he is a fine player is not in question but in Moyes' bedding-in-period, does a 24-year-old Spanish schemer without full senior international honours and alien to the frenetic pace of the Premier League and English culture really represent a more measured purchase than Fellaini? Moyes and Fellaini may be well acquainted but the Belgian knows not to expect kid gloves in Manchester: "He is a decent man, a great manager, but believe me he can be tough. If you want to win something, to create a good team you have to be hard sometimes with the players - football is like this. "I remember when I was banned after the Stoke game, he gave everyone the day off - everyone: The players, the entire staff - but I came to the training camp to do a training session with him. It was just me and him, and it is not easy to go into the camp to face him like that. "He put me through a tough session... it was a full-on session, running, shooting, passing, everything and very intense, and afterwards I was upset. I said afterwards, 'Arggh, this is bad', but I am happy when he looked after me, so I understand." Adrian Durham remains sceptical in the Daily Mail: 'Let me start with a question: would Sir Alex Ferguson have signed Marouane Fellaini? No doubt Fergie made some dubious signings in his time, but I just don't think he would see the Belgian as United quality. I'll leave you to ponder it.' Disregarding the fact his own paper said Ferguson was readying a bid in February, the general consensus seems to be Fellaini, who is considering trademarking 'awkward' a la Bale and his crap goal celebration, may do a job at United but is not a player capable of elevating them in any way whatsoever.Premier League 2013/14 | ||||
Player | Games | Successful passes | Failed passes | Pass accuracy |
Marouane Fellaini | 3 | 196 | 24 | 89.09% |
Tom Cleverley | 3 | 182 | 26 | 87.50% |
Michael Carrick | 3 | 174 | 29 | 85.71% |
Premier League 2012/13 | ||||||
Player | Games | Goals | Shots | Assists | Chances created | Aerial duels won |
Michael Carrick | 36 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 37 | 17 |
Marouane Fellaini | 31 | 11 | 65 | 5 | 40 | 151 |
Tom Cleverley | 22 | 2 | 14 | 2 | 19 | 4 |