Rise of the Belgian Bomber

Arindam Basu

Manchester United has been express and impersonal in the eviction of the hamsters, nannies and dorks that emphasised the David Moyes era. Only one remains. He scurried around like a puddle last season and at best barked mildly in between fitness issues. When Louis Van Gaal came, he was quick to hand out to the short rope to him.

But three months into the season he seems to have reinvented himself. Welcome to the rebirth of Marouane Fellaini. A slack defence and lack of an effective blocker in the midfield may have added to his advantage, but the bushy haired Belgian has had to show that he was willing to play in the hole in front of the defence and work relentlessly both in attack and defence.

The journey from Standard Liege to the red part of Manchester via Carrington Road is something of a fairy tale. For he may not be the quickest on the field or may not have the biggest physical advantage, but he compensated that with an arrogant run, impeccable technique and perfect sense of the game. These qualities made him the midfield-marshal with Everton and made Moyes believe he would be a success in the Theatre of Dreams. But then suddenly everything began to fall apart.

The team was under performing. Moyes was under fire. And he was the only player the coach had signed. As a result Fellaini had the albatross hung around his neck. Always under the lens, always talked about, always marked out, he suddenly found out he was a goldfish in a glass bowl. To add to his misery he played at four different positions in the team last season asked to do things that Moyes wished as his guy. He crumbled.

But after watching him in the last two games I’m more than convinced he is back. His game is first class, the swagger is back, the nonchalance apparent and he now wore the Red Devils jersey not as an outsider but one who has a permanent locker in the dressing room. He left a big influence in the Manchester derby and sooner than later the puddle hair will be a fad at the home ground. A brilliant player, worth all the money and all the wait.