Marouane Fellaini: The Belgium boss asked me to come on as a “joker”

Marouane Fellaini has backed himself to succeed at Manchester United and has told the supporters he will be back to his best for the Red Devils next season.

Fellaini suffered a torrid season in his first campaign at Old Trafford, with the Belgian midfielder struggling to replicate the form he showed for Everton in previous seasons.

Under David Moyes’ ill-fated tenure Fellaini was lambasted by the fans and he failed to justify the hefty price-tag he commanded when he first moved to the Theatre of Dreams.

His form affected his international spot in the Belgium side and he was dropped for the opening game at the World Cup. With Belgium 1-0 down to Algeria, Fellaini was brought on and changed the game.

The former Everton man netted once and was a constant thorn from the moment he came on. He was praised by team-mate Adnan Januzaj and Fellaini admits he is looking forward to next season.

He told reporters: “Next season I want to reach my best level ever. The injury I had in the past season made it very difficult for me.”

But while the goal might herald better times, Fellaini said he had already put it out if his mind less than 24 hours after his heroics.

“I’m not thinking about it anymore. It’s gone through my head. But I did get a lot of pleasure out of it. I had two chances in the game and from them, I scored one. I think the coach has to be satisfied with that.

“The coach asked me to score. He asked me to come on as a joker and it worked.”The coach and the whole of Belgium know my capabilities. I have nothing to prove.”

Fellaini had a 71% pass accuracy in the game against Algeria.