Born in Etterbeek to Moroccan parents, Fellaini played youth football for Anderlecht, R.A.E.C. Mons, Royal Francs Borains and Charleroi S.C. before joining Standard Liège. After winning the Belgian First Division and the Ebony Shoe as a Liège player, he moved to England to join Everton. At Everton, he was the club's Young Player of the Season for 2008–09, when the club were losing finalists in the FA Cup.
After five years at Everton, he moved to Manchester United in a deal worth £27.5 million in September 2013.
Contents
Club career
Early career
Born in Etterbeek, Brussels, Fellaini began playing football at the age of 8 for Anderlecht. Fellaini's first love was track, with the 10,000 metres being his preferred event. As a child he would run to school while his classmates used to make their daily journey by bus or car. However, Fellaini's father Abdellatif, who was a professional footballer himself, guided his son towards football. In his first season at Anderlecht's Academy, he scored 26 goals and in his second he scored 37. He was at Anderlecht's academy until the age of 10 when he joined Mons, due to his father getting a new job in the city. Three years later, he joined R. Francs Borains before leaving the club when he signed for Sporting Charleroi. At the age of 17, he signed his first permanent contract with Standard Liège. Between 2006 and 2008, he made 84 appearances for the club, scoring 11 times. He is known for his heading ability and stamina, which made him one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the Belgian First Division and resulted in him winning the Ebony Shoe in 2008,an award given to the best player of the season of African descent.Everton
After rejecting the advances of Manchester United and following reported interest from Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich, Fellaini signed for Everton in September 2008 on a five-year deal from Standard Liège for an initial transfer fee of £15 million (at the time a record for a Belgian player and club record for Everton). He made his Everton debut in a 3–2 away victory at Stoke City on 14 September 2008, and scored his first goal for the team against Newcastle United in a 2–2 home draw on 5 October 2008.[13] Fellaini went on to score 9 goals in his first season. During his debut season he was booked 10 times in his first 17 games and avoided a lengthy suspension by attending a personal hearing with England's chief referee, Keith Hackett, where he vowed to improve his behaviour. He kept his promise as he only picked up 3 further bookings in 16 games following the meeting, although his total was still more than any other Premier League player. At the end of the 2008–09 season Fellaini was named Everton's Young Player of the Season.
Fellaini suffered an ankle injury in an FA Cup replay victory against Chelsea in February 2011 and although he was able to play in a 2–0 win against Sunderland a week later, the injury caused him to miss the remainder of the 2010–11 season. He did not play a competitive match until August 2011, when he appeared as a substitute in a 1–0 loss to Queens Park Rangers at Goodison Park and played the full match in the very next fixture, as Everton beat Sheffield United 3–1 in the League Cup. In November 2011 he signed a new five-year contract with the club. He finished the season having won the most tackles, aerial duels and made more passes than anyone else at the club. He won the second highest number of tackles in the league and won possession of the ball 190 times, the most out of any player.
In the opening game of the 2012–13 Premier League season against Manchester United, Fellaini received plaudits for his outstanding performance, as he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory. He continued the season in great form with goals against Arsenal, Manchester City, Sunderland and Fulham amongst others. Fellaini was subsequently awarded Premier League Player of the Month for November 2012.
Fellaini was banned for three matches by the Football Association on 17 December 2012 after headbutting Ryan Shawcross during a game against Stoke City, an incident missed by the match officials at the time.The same month he was ranked as number 60 in The 100 best footballers in the world by The Guardian.
Manchester United
2013–14
On 2 September 2013, Fellaini signed a five-year contract, reuniting with former manager David Moyes at Manchester United in a £27.5 million, last-second, deadline day deal.[3] He made his debut for the club on 14 September, in a 2–0 home win against Crystal Palace, coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Anderson.[26] He made his full debut on 17 September, starting in a 4–2 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League.[27]On 5 November 2013, Fellaini received his first red card for Manchester United in a match against Real Sociedad in the group stage of the Champions League.[28]
In April 2014, Fellaini was named as one of the "10 worst buys of the Premier League season" by The Daily Telegraph.[29] He made only fifteen league starts throughout the season, in contrast to thirty one starts he made in the previous season while at Everton.[1]
2014–15[edit]
In his first pre-season game of 2014–15, he came off the bench to score his first Manchester United goal in injury time to give the club a 2–1 win over Valencia in Louis van Gaal's first game at Old Trafford as manager.On 20 October 2014, he scored his first competitive goal and an equalizer for Manchester United in the Premier League against West Bromwich Albion after just 2 minutes coming off from the bench after the half time. The match ended up in 2-2 draw.[30]
He was given his first United start for the season under Van Gaal in the following match against title-rival Chelsea, and was vital for helping United to secure a late equaliser to earn a point for the team. Fellaini covered 12.17 kilometres in the match, the most by any United player, and made 70 high-intensity runs, more than anyone else on the pitch. He was also effective in shutting down Fàbregas, who completed only three passes in the first 20 minutes and just 11 in the whole first half. This was remarkable given Fàbregas has played more passes than anybody else in the Premier League. During the dying minutes of the stoppage time, he contributed to United's goal when his header was saved by Courtois and ultimately rebounded in by Van Persie.[31]
International career
Fellaini was eligible to play for either Belgium or Morocco. He chose to represent Belgium, from youth level upwards. He represented the U-23 team at the 2008 Olympics and achieved fourth place, losing to Brazil.
His senior team debut was made in February 2007, and his first goal for the senior team came in a 2–1 defeat against Portugal a UEFA Euro 2008 qualification match.
Fellaini made seven appearances in Belgium's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, scoring once, as the Red Devils reached the finals for the first time since 2002.
On 4 June 2014 Fellaini was selected as part of Belgium's 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.On 17 June, in Belgium's opening match against Algeria, Fellaini came on as a second-half substitute and scored the Red Devils' equalising goal in a 2–1 win. He was then named in the starting line-up for the second match against Russia on 22 June.
Personal life
Fellaini was born to Moroccan parents from Tangier and brought up in Brussels. His father, Abdellatif, was a former goalkeeper for Raja Casablanca and Hassania Agadir who signed for Racing Mechelen but was unable to play as his former Moroccan club refused to release his paperwork. Instead of returning home, he opted to become a bus driver for STIB. He would later take early retirement to oversee his son's career.Fellaini is a Muslim.Career statistics
Club[edit]
- As of match played 16 August 2014.
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Season | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Standard Liege | 2006–07 | 30 | 3 | 7 | 1 | – | 3 | 0 | 40 | 4 | |
| 2007–08 | 31 | 6 | 5 | 1 | – | 3 | 0 | 39 | 7 | ||
| 2008–09 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Total | 64 | 9 | 12 | 2 | – | 8 | 0 | 84 | 11 | ||
| Everton | 2008–09 | 30 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 35 | 9 | |
| 2009–10 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 34 | 3 | |
| 2010–11 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | 25 | 3 | ||
| 2011–12 | 34 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | 43 | 5 | ||
| 2012–13 | 31 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 36 | 12 | ||
| 2013–14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | 4 | 1 | ||
| Total | 141 | 25 | 19 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 177 | 33 | |
| Manchester United | 2013–14 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| 2014–15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |
| Total | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 1 | |
| Career total | 224 | 35 | 31 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 283 | 45 | |
International
| Belgium | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2007 | 8 | 1 |
| 2008 | 6 | 1 |
| 2009 | 7 | 1 |
| 2010 | 5 | 1 |
| 2011 | 6 | 1 |
| 2012 | 6 | 0 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2 |
| 2014 | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 50 | 9 |
International goals
- Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first.
| [show]International goals |
|---|
Honours
Club
- Standard Liège
- Everton
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