Manchester United are hoping that their Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini will sign a new long-term contract. According to recent reports, the Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho has advised the Belgian international to pen a new long-term deal to extend his stay at Old Trafford. The 30-year-old has currently been sidelined due to an injury which could keep him out for several weeks. However, the Special One has taken a light-hearted approach and has instructed the Belgian to pen a new deal before learning the extent of his injury. The Portuguese manager has told Fellaini to “sign the contract and shut up” as the injured Belgian enters his final six months of his current deal at the club.
Fellaini will be out of commission for several weeks after he fell victim to a knee injury in the Red Devils’ 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Wednesday night. The former Everton player is out of contract in the summer and Mourinho, in a lighthearted fashion, has revealed that he has already asked the midfielder to pen a new deal. In a recent press conference, Mourinho was quoted to have said, “I told him yesterday, ‘sign the contract and shut up’.”
“I told him, ‘don’t gamble too much, sign the contract before you know the extent of the injury.'”
Mourinho addressed Fellaini’s latest injury and added, “It is not an ACL, a complete rupture of any structure of the knee,”
“But we need him, the Champions League is arriving [United’s first leg against Sevilla is February 21] and lots of tough matches to play and probably we are going to lose him for a few weeks. Two, three, four or five, I cannot say at the moment.”
Fellaini made a switch to Old Trafford in the summer of 2013 in a £27.5m deal and has gone on to make 149 appearances for United, scoring 19 goals and providing 10 assists in all competitions. Manchester United are currently sitting in second place in the Premier League table with a tally of 56 points in 26 league matches. In any other season, Jose Mourinho’s side would be well in contention of winning the league but the record-breaking form of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City has seen them fall behind in the race for the league title. The Citizens of Manchester are leading the Premier League by a massive 13 points with United desperately trying to play catch up with their ‘noisy neighbours’.
The departure of Fellaini in the summer for free could turn out to be missed chance for United so it’s only right for the club to tie him up on a new long-term deal. Fellaini has been in fine form this term, scoring 4 goals and providing one assist in 16 appearances for the Manchester club.
It remains to be seen what lies ahead in the future of the Belgian midfielder and if he ends up signing a new long-term contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford in the near future.
