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Football

03rd Feb 2018

Jose Mourinho tells Marouane Fellaini to shut up and sign new Manchester United contract

Matthew Gault

Fellaini

The Belgian’s future is still up in the air.

Jose Mourinho’s patience with Marouane Fellaini is wearing thin. While there was certainly sympathy towards the Belgian being forced off against Tottenham through injury just seven minutes after being substituted on, the Manchester United manager is growing visibly more agitated by constant speculation over the Belgian midfielder’s future.

Fellaini is out of contract in the summer and is yet to put pen to paper on fresh terms. The 30-year-old, who has played a key role at times under Mourinho when fit, has been heavily linked with a move away, with clubs in Turkey and Italy said to be keen on acquiring his services.

United refused to sell Fellaini during the January transfer window and, as a result, he will be free to leave for nothing in the summer. He rejected a contract offer from the club in September but, now set for a spell on the sidelines, Mourinho has made clear his feelings on Fellaini’s future.

“I told him yesterday: ‘Sign the contract and shut up,'” Mourinho said on Friday ahead of United’s clash with Huddersfield at Old Trafford. “I told him: ‘Don’t gamble too much. Sign the contract before you know the extent of the injury.’

“I don’t have good news [on Fellaini’s injury]. I don’t have news because I don’t want to give news based on an initial approach, but I don’t think the news is very good.

“He has a problem in his knee, is the same knee but not the same, was internal, now external. So let’s wait a couple of more days but out of the game tomorrow.

“Is not an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) or a complete rupture of any structure of the knee. We are not going so far as that but we need him. Champions League is arriving and lots of tough matches to play and probably we are going to lose for a few weeks. Two, three, four or five, I cannot say at the moment.”

Fellaini joined United from Everton in the summer of 2013 and has gone on to make 149 appearances for the club.