Manchester United and Arsenal running out of time to sign Marouane Fellaini from Everton
13 Jul 2013 22:30
The Belgian's £23.5million buy-out clause expires on August 14 with the Toffees set to demand more than £30million for him after
Manchester United and Arsenal have one month to sign Everton star Marouane Fellaini.
The £23.5million buy-out clause in Fellaini’s Everton *contract expires on August 14.
Fellaini still has three years remaining on his Everton deal and the Goodison Park club will demand more than £30m for the 25-year-old once his clause has expired.
It was former Everton boss David Moyes, now in charge at United, who insisted on the deadline when the buy-out clause was negotiated into *Fellaini’s 2011 contract *extension. Having lost Joleon Lescott to Manchester City at the end of the 2009 summer transfer window, Moyes wanted to make sure Everton would not be left in a similar position and would have time to replace *Fellaini.
A source close to Fellaini said: “Marouane respects the terms of the agreement he signed with Everton and has good moral standards. It is up to the club how they act.”
Knowing the *precise details of the buy-out clause and the deadline, Moyes must *decide whether to step up his interest in *Fellaini with Bayern *Munich set to beat him to the signing of Barcelona’s Thiago Alcantara.
Everton are already braced for a second bid from Moyes for another of his former players, Leighton Baines. Arsenal have made an enquiry over Fellaini, but have so far concentrated most of their efforts on trying to sign a striker after making *approaches for Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain, United’s Wayne Rooney and *Liverpool’s Luis Suarez.
The clock is now ticking for Arsenal and United over *Fellaini, particularly as both clubs are away on long-haul *pre-season tours.
Fellaini and Baines are in *Austria with Everton for the club’s training camp.
This summer’s transfer *window shuts on September 2 and Everton boss Roberto *Martinez will target Paris Saint-Germain’s Clement Chantome and Wigan’s James McCarthy if Fellaini leaves Goodison Park.