Jose, Moyes or Wenger: Who can provide the right '£26 million’ for Fellaini?

Manchester United:

The Red Devils become the favorite in this race with David Moyes’ arrival at Old Trafford. The Scotsman had brought Fellaini to Goodison for £18 million in 2008, and it is safe to say that there has been no love lost in that relation. Moyes’ attempts to keep him at the club till the end of the season might be seen as a shrewd move to take him to Manchester United along.

There have been strong rumours coming from Manchester that Moyes is looking for a 2nd midfielder to partner Carrick in the centre. Carrick has been established as the main stay in this team for his distribution to the wings and forwards, and with Scholes’ retirement and Cleverley and Anderson’s inability to come to the fore, there is a slot for another big name to enter. This has already seen the likes of Fabregas and Thiago being linked to Manchester United, and looking at the moulds of these 2 it becomes clear that Moyes would be looking for a runner to link the defense with the attack and thus leaving Carrick with more defensive responsibility.

This role could be quite suitable for Fellaini as he was seen in this role for large parts of last season. But one blocking point would be that now the Belgian will not have the freedom to move into the second striker role due to the presence of established strikers in the team. Wayne Rooney again becomes the talking point now, as Moyes’ preference between 2 of his former pupils will be crucial here.

Arsenal:

Arsene Wenger is the most recent manager to be reported to have been struck by the Fellaini bug, but he looks like the least likely person to win the race. Arsenal yesterday released Arshavin from the club; and the Russian who had claimed the club’s highest transfer fee back in 2009, has only further proved Wenger’s point of view of not spending heavily on an in-form player. So in that aspect, Arsenal have never been in the race to sign Fellaini.

Just considering for a moment that Wenger does in fact go through with the bid (though fully expect the Frenchman to put an initial bid of 6 million). The Belgian has earlier claimed to prefer playing as a central midfielder, but with the likes of Ramsey, Arteta and Wilshere already waiting in the ranks at the Emirates, Fellaini does not look as the first choice in that department.

But when you consider the Belgian as the striker behind Giroud, it ticks all the boxes that Rosicky has not been able to. Wenger plays Tomas Rosicky as an advanced midfielder rather than an attacker, and this emphasizes the Arsenal way of playing out of the half rather than launching balls upfront. But with Fellaini playing ahead, Wenger does have a Plan B for the games like Stoke City and Chelsea. With Fellaini as the target man, Giroud becomes more of a striker running the channels and this might be able to utilize the Frenchman’s underrated left foot shoots. It will also invite Cazorla to link up from the left, hereby again promoting Wenger’s ploy of playing a midfielder on the wings.

And finally the 12-13 season had seen Arteta struggle initially against the likes of Pienaar, Ruiz and Hoolahan. This could be improved by the support of Fellaini in midfield. And even though the world considers Wenger to be a Scrooge, Ivan Gazdis here emphasizes why players would want to play under such an enigmatic manager:

“I think players that are concerned about uncertainty probably think about Arsenal as the most certain place they could be in the world of football. This is a club that has had remarkable consistency in terms of its manager, its football philosophy, its direction and the consistent support from the board.”

The Fellaini saga is certain to push into the early weeks of August, with finally a bidding war looking certain to happen after all these years. Chelsea will have the advantage in terms of their huge bids coming in and also in the European adventures they promise to provide, but the ball seems certainly to be in David Moyes’ court with Fellaini looking for the slightest nod. Arsenal at the moment are not in the same ball park, and doesn’t matter how many times the papers claim that the club has a £120million kitty, the fact remains that Arsene Wenger has had that sort of funds for quite some time now; and still the barren run goes on.

By the way, Fellaini might also be the perfect plan B that Barcelona are desperately searching for. Anyway that would be a different story all together.