Transfer Grades: Bale, Ozil, Fellaini, Lamela and Sakho

Marouanne Fellaini

Marouane Fellaini – Everton to Man United (£27.5m) What’s the deal? United’s only major summer signing follows David Moyes from Everton. Is the price right? No. It’s too much to pay anyway, even if they hadn’t let Fellaini’s £23.5m release clause lapse. Even at that price it would be a lot of money. Fellaini is good at what he does; causing an aerial menace and providing power from midfield, and gives United an extra dimension. But to pay so much money (only £8m less than they offered for Fabregas) for someone who isn’t going to dominate possession or add inventiveness is too much. Good player at what he does, but too much money paid for those skills. Why sign him? United don’t have any power or physicality in midfield. Carrick is tidy and intelligent and Cleverley works hard, but neither have that surging dynamism that Fellaini brings. When he was given license at Everton to roam in to dangerous areas there were games that he simply took over. Why sell him? The money was too good to turn down (although Everton wasted it, as I will cover later) and he wanted to go. Pretty straight forward in the end. They’ll be delighted to get £4m more than they expected. Will it work? It depends what they are using him for. In the Premier League he has shown that he can be an unplayable battering ram and will surely continue to cause chaos, certainly against physically smaller teams. But in Europe? Will he have enough refinement to help United improve on previous showings? Man United Grade: C He’s a good player, but is he a great player? Not in the Fabregas, Thiago, Ozil type class for sure. The mess made over his release clause implies that he wasn’t first choice, and rushing it through on deadline day isn’t very United like. Still, brings a new intensity to the team. Everton Grade: A Although they were lucky to get more than his expired release clause, they still got it.