The Rumour Mill

Man City prepare two players plus cash bid for Marouane Fellaini

17/02/2013 | Comments (51)
The Sunday People claims that Champions Man City will offer a deal worth a combined £23m for Everton's "tonsorially tremendous talisman" as they try to beat Chelsea to his signature.

The 25-year-old Belgian is supposedly also a top target for Chelsea, but the European champions will, so it is claimed, have to battle it out with mega-rich rivals Man City in the summer.

Original Source: Sunday People  Rumour source ranking:
1 = Poor; 2 = Fair; 3 = Good; 4 = Very Good; Empty (grey) = Unranked

Reader Comments

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Guy Hastings
237 Posted 17/02/2013 at 19:28:14
Rodwell and Lescott plus £22,999.998
Ralph Basnett
239 Posted 17/02/2013 at 19:25:44
I wonder, could it be Lescott, now over 30 and Gareth Barry nearing 35?

That would be a good move, only for Chelsea to counter with Lampard and Benayoun.

Now if City where to come in with Yaya and Silva we could then let Chelsea once again counter with Lukaku and Hazard we may challenge for top ten under Martinez, Rafa or BIg Sam whilst dithering Dave commentates for MOTD whilst ruing the day he did not sign his contract whilst waiting for Real Madrid to come for him!!!!

More lazy journalism gives us something to read I suppose.

Barry Rathbone
250 Posted 17/02/2013 at 19:37:09
Despite Felli's often game breaking displays he does go walkabout doesn't he? You can see why the monied elite aren't breaking the bank to land him.
Sam Hoare
265 Posted 17/02/2013 at 19:50:12
Within the bounds of some realism I think £23m plus Scott Sinclair and Micah Richards would be pretty decent.

Wonder who Fella will be playing for next season and what price? I suspect his slightly dwindling form will see the price tag much nearer £20m than £30m.

Colin Glassar
271 Posted 17/02/2013 at 20:06:28
£25m + Aguero and Toure (they pay 99% of their wages) and we can seriously consider it.
Mark Hill
276 Posted 17/02/2013 at 20:11:43
Gareth Barry is 31....

I wouldn't mind taking Micah and their argentinian left back who's name escapes me, plus a boat load of cash!!

Colin Glassar
283 Posted 17/02/2013 at 20:20:58
Seriously though, I'd accept £20m + Micah Richards and James Milner.
Ian Smitham
286 Posted 17/02/2013 at 20:22:54
Spoke on here the other night, first, I do not want to lose Fella, but if it has to be then Chelsea with Lukaka coming to Everton is a must, with a cash adjustment.
John Gant
287 Posted 17/02/2013 at 20:28:02
Felli doing nowt to justify his already inflated price tag.
David Hallwood
321 Posted 17/02/2013 at 21:12:14
Sam Hoare (#265) — "Within the bounds of some realism" — Don't buy or read the Sunday People... and if you do, don't believe a single fuckin' word they print.
Nick Entwistle
331 Posted 17/02/2013 at 21:38:42
Nice one Guy, hehehehe...

And not to single you out for more Barry, but how come you recognise the monied elite when having a pop at one of our players but completely fail to acknowledge that status when it comes to Moyes and his record?

Tom Bowers
339 Posted 17/02/2013 at 21:55:39
Richards with his injuries?
Barry too old?
Milner a plodding workhorse?
Lescott? Forget it.

Just the cash, please.
Andy Meighan
340 Posted 17/02/2013 at 21:55:08
"Tonsorially tremendous talisman" — can someone please enlighten me when he's been that? Ever??? The most vastly overrated player ever to grace Goodison Park and full of his own self-worth, if you ask me. Once again yesterday he just strolled round like Billy Big Bollocks doing absolutely nothing —and the same against Man Utd the week before.

Fucking hell... he only has to step on the pitch and some fans purr over him like a teenage girl staring at a One Direction poster! The adulation for this imposter knocks me fucking sick. I suppose I'll get shot down but really I don't buy into this hype for him at all.

Rob Baker
342 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:11:43
John Guidetti plus A N Other from Man City's vault.
Dominic Bobadilla
345 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:17:54
Pantimilion is a very good goalkeeper in my opinion. Let them have Howard in return.
Nathan Moore
355 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:21:35
A combined £23M, people — not £23M + two players. Someone worth £9M, £6M & £8M in cash, for example.

Aka, shit deal.

John Ford
356 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:20:31
James Milner is depressing. He's everything that's bad about English football because he excels at the things we value too highly. He has a great engine, covers the ground well, is always available and works hard.

He's also a knuckle dragger who can't see a pass, has nil vision, limited skills and I'd fuckin hate him at Goodison.

Barry Rathbone
357 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:27:17
John Ford, well said.
Eugene Ruane
359 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:29:31
John Ford (356) - Perfect summing up.
Paul David
361 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:33:08
Sounds like the perfect Moyes player to me.
Paul David
362 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:34:55
Talking of City players, has anyone seen that Hart advert. Made me cringe, he has no shame.
James Martin
363 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:31:54
Andy Meighan, well said. It seems that it's okay to take a shot at any of the playing staff now (never thought I'd see the day when Jelavic and Pienaar became whipping boys) but yet the great taboo still exists when it comes to Fellaini. Our star, our marquee player... blah blah blah blah.

When the team is playing well, he profits from it... and when they're not, he looks terrible. If people want to see better football, more incisive attacking play, more pace in the final third, and less hoofball, then the answer is obvious... sell Fellaini and buy a real number 10 and watch Jelavic start to bang the goals in again.

As long as he is doing his Kevin Davies role upfront for us, we will continue to have nil threat on the counter attack, Baines will continue to float every single cross to the back post for him, and Distin and Jagielka will remain unable to resist a glorious smash up the pitch towards his head. Possibly Moyes's greatest ever mistake was wasting €15M on him, Spurs brought Modric for a similar price.

John Gant
369 Posted 17/02/2013 at 22:43:44
Felli to Chelski, Lukaku and that keeper who's on loan at At Madrid who looks like that big twerp out of the 'The In-betweeners' and a couple of quid....
Shane Corcoran
384 Posted 17/02/2013 at 23:14:05
The problem with any of their players heading to Goodison would be the wages. They'd have to take a serious cut I'd imagine.

Work horse or not I think Milner would be a good addition.

Lukaku? The man thinks he's going to be the world's best. Not a hope.

Vijay Badhan
386 Posted 17/02/2013 at 23:15:30
If Fellaini wants to go, let him fuck off. He is a decent player but could be replaced for the money we would hopefully receive for him.

I wouldn't want to see Barry or Milner at Everton as I don't rate either player; also, taking Lescott back now would be a backward step as we should be looking at bringing in a young center back who can be with us for the next few years at least.

Best option would be to sell him for cash money upfront and then spend pre-season looking for a good center midfielder in the mold of someone like Manuel Fernandes, who wasn't scared to attack, and take the ball in confined spaces and had a blisteringly accurate shot on him, which is more than can be said for Osman – who is shit.

Neville, Hibbert and Osman should have gone a long time ago IMO.

Bob Parrington
404 Posted 18/02/2013 at 01:25:04
Like all players Fellaini can have a bad game. But, c'mon he is a class act and, if we take less the pds30m as a package we're just not negotiating. If they want him that badly, they should pay for him. How much did RS pay the Prison Bars for Andrea Carrol? (oops, typo!)
Ernie Baywood
408 Posted 18/02/2013 at 02:01:57
As mentioned above, wages would limit this to youth players or straight cash. So I'd take the cash - we've got our own youth players. Can't see City subsidising wages for every move - they're going to struggle with FFP as it is.
Adolf Ng
410 Posted 18/02/2013 at 02:50:12
Tevez and Aguero will do for me !
Peter Thistle
411 Posted 18/02/2013 at 02:51:16
Lies....
Ian Allaker
412 Posted 18/02/2013 at 03:05:49
I cant agree with you James and Andy. Fellaini hasn’t been at his best the past few weeks but he has shown more often than not that he is one of the few players in our team who can cause problems to the top teams. Even on a bad day he can change a game. He is a player who is as good as most in the league in the holding midfielder role and has also shown how effective he is in more advance midfield positions. He is also very useful in both penalty boxes winning a lot of headers. He is our top goal scorer and is good for our build up play very rarely giving the ball away, but can also offer a different approach if we ever need to get the ball forward quickly which also helps the likes of Neville Jaggs and Hibbert who cant pass and rely on hoofing the ball up field to Fellainis chest. I would take £25m for him though.
Ian Allaker
413 Posted 18/02/2013 at 03:27:34
Also we have not seen the best of Fellaini, he will not reach his prime for at least another 3 or 4 years. Baines is 28 and is in the form of his life. I think Fellaini will be far better than Baines at 28.
Anto Byrne
414 Posted 18/02/2013 at 03:38:34
Moyes is thinking about Scholes and Giggs on frees. Giggs has another 2-3 yrs left on the clock and Scholes is better than anything we currently have. The £100k a week won't be a problem as it will be a pay-as-you-play deal. Pip and Scoles in the middle along with Gibbo makes a nice Man Utd reunion.


Peter Barry
422 Posted 18/02/2013 at 04:42:25
Paul David (#361) — absolutely spot on and that's Everton's major problem.
Eric Myles
424 Posted 18/02/2013 at 05:12:06
I can understand where James and Andy are coming from. For 4 seasons Fellaini has been a headless chicken in midfield and the main proposent of sideways crab passes that Neville is getting slated for but Fellaini has been hailed as a great player.

Now this season he has half a season actually living up to his hype and performing like a world class player he's now gone off the boil. Lets hope he gets his form back for the remaining tough games of the season or we won't get anything for him come the summer.

Sean Thomas
441 Posted 18/02/2013 at 08:11:24
Fellaini should play at DM. Our whole attacking style is wrong with him up front. A decent ss to play with Jelavic will get us way more goals than the current set up.
Andrew Ellams
456 Posted 18/02/2013 at 09:14:53
I have been saying for the past week that we should reinvest some of the inevitable Fellaini money on Scott Sinclair so maybe £23million plus him not including.

No to Richards and Lescott, I would rather sell on Heitinga and bring in Hangeland from Fulham on a Bosman if he doesn't sign his new deal.

James Martin
487 Posted 18/02/2013 at 11:14:36
I think the best position for Fellaini is ahead of Gibson but not behind Jelavic. He does not have the positional discipline for the holding role (as we saw against Leeds) but like the back end of last season and West Brom at home this season can play in a certain manner as the midfielder driving (if he ever moves that fast) forward.

I thought he looked okay in the first half against Oldham when he was in that position; what's more, Anichebe and Jelavic where getting some half chances. Once we changed in the second half to the trusted Fellaini behind Jelavic model then the hoofballs came out and Jelavic's chances (apart from the one when Gibson bypassed Fellaini) dried up.

I don't know any other team in the league that plays with a tall target man off the striker. It just doesn't work. You might get pretty football like at the beginning of the season but it will not get you many goals as a team, regardless of how many headers he may get individually.

Harold Matthews
488 Posted 18/02/2013 at 11:04:43
Swansea couldn't wait to offload Scott Sinclair. They even said so. They wanted Hernandez.
Harold Matthews
489 Posted 18/02/2013 at 11:21:05
Sinclair missed far too many sitters.......repeat.......Many..!
Graham Lloyd
496 Posted 18/02/2013 at 11:33:16
I would definitely include the right back that played for Oldham against the Shite.
Kev Johnson
524 Posted 18/02/2013 at 12:28:48
I love the way every TW thread has a tendency to turn into every other TW thread!

This press story is about us swapping Fellaini for two Man City players plus cash - not what Fellaini's best position is, or whether he's any good. Or, indeed, what two Chelsea players we'd like in an exchange.

The funny thing is, of all the players we might find good use for, Clichy has to be about the last! We've got Baines (who I think will stay), Oviedo, Bidwell and Garbutt, which is more than enough LBs to be going on with. I'd like Milner (an effective team player who looks like a Neanderthal but is deceptively intelligent in football terms) and Lescott (a proven left footed replacement for Distin). But, putting aside their big stars, even the standard City players are on ridiculous wages which makes it hard to move them on. Bring on 'fair play' financial regulations, I say... Or at least I would do if that's what this thread was about.

Gavin McGarvey
556 Posted 18/02/2013 at 14:20:13
Most City players are on £4m+ per year. If we take two I can't see how we come out ahead on the deal (presuming we sign them on 3 year deals). Doesn't sound like a story with a great deal of truth to it.
Mark Lennon
637 Posted 18/02/2013 at 19:39:17
Take the cash. Get what we can for Heitinga as well. New manager and a new start with some cash in the pot.
Martin Handley
666 Posted 18/02/2013 at 21:48:45
Guys knowing Evertons luck it'll be Joe Corrigan,Mike Doyle ,Colin Bell and Francis Lee plus a million !

Or if its Chelsea we'll get Peter Bonetti, John Hollins, Ray Wilkins and Kerry Dixon plus a million. Jeez I'm showing me age.

Patrick Murphy
667 Posted 18/02/2013 at 21:56:29
I think a few of those players you mention Martin are no longer with us.
Martin Handley
671 Posted 18/02/2013 at 21:58:54
My apologies Patrick my memory is failing me now! I just think it was a slow news day sports wise so the papers decided to make something up and we at Everton always seem to be the easy target.

We all know that if we fail to qualify for Europe we will lose the likes of Fellaini and Baines and one or two others I fear,so whoever the manager is will probably have no team but a fair few quid to spend.

Chris Fisher
733 Posted 19/02/2013 at 09:51:52
Yeah, it will be Lescott and Sinclair – and they can fuck off.
Denis Richardson
842 Posted 19/02/2013 at 18:27:13
Unfortunately, regardless of the various rumours, its difficult to see any deal being done before the manager situation is sorted out.

It would be extremely unfair to the next man if the club and Moyes agree to sell any of our best players (assuming DM leaves) and brng in new ones. The new manager will be left in a position of probably having to ship out players who'd only just joined the club.

Also, which player is seriously going to join us without knowing who the manager will be?

All player transfer rumours from now on are pretty much irrelevant and baseless until DM finally says whether he's going or not - which apparently wont be until f'ing May! (Journos have nothing else to write about so conveniently choose to ignore this point.)

Phil Walling
850 Posted 19/02/2013 at 18:43:11
As Bill works 24/7 to keep Moyes `onside`, he may find the top players queuing at the exit door. But,at least,he can be sure Captain Pip will say yes to another year here.
Every cloud has a silver bin liner!
Tom Bowers
961 Posted 20/02/2013 at 12:02:03
Cash would be the only deal in my book!
Everton need it to bring in players who can be consistantly good not players who have made a name but cannot command a first team place.
We have had too many like that in the past who come in, play well for the first few games and then nothing much thereafter.
Swansea can find the likes of Michu so why can't Everton unearth a similar player given the funds are available.
Fellaini may be in a distracted mode until the season end which is bad for the Blues.
He knows that if Everton don't make Champions league he will be off to the money clubs who are qualified. It's the nature of the beast.
Dave Lynch
964 Posted 20/02/2013 at 12:51:39
Vincent Kompany and 30 million or they can go whistle dixie.

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