Marouane Fellaini Completes Move To Shandong Luneng: After 11 Years, The Premier League Bids Farewell To It’s Most Angular Son

Chris Wright

30th, January 2019

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The end of a particularly angular and awkward era is finally upon us. Marouane Fellaini is a Premier League player no longer.

It’s reported by Transfer Markt China that the Belgian behemoth has left Manchester United and signed for Shandong Luneng on a three-year contract in a deal worth around £8million.

Fellaini has spent the last 11 years of his career in England, first with Everton, then with United, where he became an important part of Jose Mourinho’s strategy (essentially “sling him on and hope for the best”) only to be rendered surplus to requirements almost immediately by the regime change that saw Ole Gunnar Solksjaer take over as manager.

Still, he felt like part of the set decoration. Present, if not correct. Like a red tarpaulin that had been slung into a tree.

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Big Marouane had his detractors – fairly, usually – but it can’t be denied that he scored or at least helped to force some big goals in his 177 appearances for United, a couple when a desperate, near-stupefied team needed them most. The 91st-minute winner against Arsenal last season springing instantly to mind.

However, now 31 and perhaps more lumbering and one-speed than ever before, there won’t be many United fans sad to see him departing for the other side of the planet.