French paper claims Fellaini will join Chelsea

"Fellaini has a buy-out clause in his contract, which Everton insist is higher than the reported £22m and can only be activated by Champions League clubs.

Sources in Belgium last night insisted a January move is unlikely because Fellaini is determined to repay Everton for the faith they have shown in him by helping them clinch a top-four spot.

Moyes also insists he is under no obligation to sell, despite the club’s £9m losses last season.

He said: “There is no pressure to sell (Leighton) Baines or Fellaini, nothing like that.

‘Things can happen quickly, albeit my plans aren’t to sell anybody.”

"Fellaini has a buy-out clause in his contract, which Everton insist is higher than the reported £22m and can only be activated by Champions League clubs"

Chelsea aren't in the Champions League so how can they activate this supposed clause?

In my eyes, the chairman and snior management should have decided this already and the speculation becomes nothing but unsettling.

The January transfer window is just a Premier League / Sky / media money spinner that all the clubs have to play to generate cash for media institutions and in turn bump up their tv payments.

Without proper investment we won't be winning this game for very long and stories like this will more often than not be true.

Or does this mean Fellaini himself has the final say? How does the clause work?

This is Moyes's best team since he arrived. Other than Rooney and maybe Arteta, you would struggle to name a former player who would be in his current first team. I would say only Man City have a better first team than ours when all fit, that is how good I think our team is.

With Moyes's current contract coming to an end and constant speculation around Baines's future, would or could we maintain our form for the last 18 games without Fellaini? How would Moyes perceive his sale, again regardless of how much he would have to spend from the transfer?

He needs money to strengthen now and if that is not enough come May then so be it: Fellaini, Baines and Moyes could leave, certainly with my blessing, as Moyes and this current crop of players have taken the club as far as it can go with this current board and lack of investment.

If this board are not prepared to cash in when we have the best first team we have had for ages then it's time for not only DM to go but me too!

What are we doing?

Waiting for our tight-fisted board to look down the back of the sofa to scrape enough to loan some part time Latvian brick layer from BATE Borisov!

[I'm exaggerating yes, but you catch my drift!]

Now I know we have no faith in Bill when it comes to finance but surely he is not this naive to propose such a deal to possible our most valuable asset... I mean, on paper and after debt, he's probably worth as much as the club on a whole, no?

However, after his recent suspension proved, this team can cope without him, I'm even tempted to think that perhaps Darron Gibson is a more important component in this side? We took 6 points from 9 during his suspension, and ironically played our best football in the game we lost against the European Champions.

There's no getting away from his talent and ability, and we'd all much rather have him than not, but I can't help feel at times we are over-reliant on him when in the side and tend to abandon our great link-up play to go long, which often means he plays with his back to Jelavic, who I'm sure we'd all agree hasn't looked close to the player we bought last year so far?

I love the lad, his goals and ability to dominate a back-line are ridiculously good, but this side would still thrive without him, and allow us to build a squad, as surely we could bring in 3 players at least with the fees being quoted?

If the clause does exist, then it does solely because the player wanted it as a back-up plan when signing his latest contract. It makes a lot of sense (for the player) to have it at an attractive level rather than top of the market, as then it is more likely to attract a number of interested clubs who would be forced to offer top personal terms to get him to choose them.

It doesn't necessarily matter whether the player enjoys playing for us, and I think that if we don't qualify for Europe this season (and probably CL would be needed) Fellaini will be tempted away in the summer. I don't think he will go in this transfer window unless the club want him to, and it would be bad for all the reasons already highlighted..

If the club are guaranteed to receive £22m from the sale after deductions, agent fee's, pay outs etc... Then I believe we'd be in a position that represents decent value.

Now there's no way in the world this whole amount would be allowed for future transactions however, surely £15m would be allowed for the kitty, meaning £7 covers the banks etc...

I worry that people know the situation with Fellaini and will continue to monitor the situation knowing he represents better value come the summer if the club fail to make CL (which given the form of other teams is a very realistic possibility). I say better value knowing that if failing to qualify for Europe makes Fellaini less happy at the club they could perhaps make him force the move, thus open to reduced offers?

On a side note, does nobody find it slightly alarming that his old man is very quiet... he's usually got something to say, unless he knows something?

If they don't qualify at the end of season then fair enough, but now?

If true then I would hope that the offers would come in well before he started agitating for a move in the summer (if we don't make the Champions League ourselves). I would hope that more than one major team would want him at that price and that should be enough to prompt a quick attempt to secure his services ahead of other teams.

* Goes to BATE homepage to check if they have a plumber for the toilets, a caterer for the food and a marketing guru. That would only cost a fraction of Fellaini's 22M AND we get 3 players as a bonus.

I'll wait for Skysports or the OS to break any news... Saying that, I'm still waiting for the OS to break the Gosling departure?!?