Jose Mourinho has admitted that he is concerned that Marouane Fellaini will leave Manchester United for nothing in the summer. The Belgium midfielder rejected United’s first contract offer in September as he seeks a new deal worth in the region of £170,000-a-week, and could walk away as a free agent at the end of the season.
Fellaini, who turned 30 earlier this week, has been heavily linked with PSG and Turkish club Besiktas, and Mourinho accepts that the contract situation is out of his control. Asked if he is concerned that the player will leave in the summer, Mourinho said: ‘Yes I am.’ Pressed on what he could do to turn the situation around, he added: ‘Nothing. Leave the discussion to the player and the board. I am not involved in contracts, in deals. I respect both the players and the board. The player because he has the right to decide his future. He finishes his contract he has the right to decide his future. And I respect that because the decisions and discussions are under control, so I just wait wishing they will have an understanding. But it’s out of my control.’
Mourinho is refusing to panic about the eight-point gap between United and Premier League leaders Manchester City. City’s scintillating start to the season has raised concerns among their rivals that Pep Guardiola’s side could run away with the title race and even go unbeaten like Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2004. But Mourinho insists that he and his players are not worried about City’s lead as Premier League clubs prepare to play three games in the space of a week. ‘We cannot think about the gap,’ said the United manager. ‘We cannot think about the gap to City, to the fifth position, we just have to focus on ourselves and in matches.
‘Fans are fans and professionals are professionals. Fans are more emotional, they think and feel things in a different way, and I always say to myself we must have emotional balance when we are doing well.
‘When we are doing bad, always an emotional balance after a big victory or big defeat, so we haven’t reached 50 per cent of the season so let’s be calm. We have four competitions to play and let’s go step by step, match after match. The Champions League finished after the Basle game, we switch off and move to the Premier League. It’s an interesting week because I think it’s the first time we have three Premier League matches in one week, with a couple of days in between matches.
‘But you know I think every team is prepared for that. Even when I look to teams with other ambitions, I see fantastic squads so I think the teams are going to cope with the week.’ Mourinho dismissed questions about United’s style, insisting that that the 4-1 win over Newcastle last weekend showed their ambition. I don’t know who is more ambitious than us,’ he said. ‘To have more ambition than we have at home I think is quite difficult. We played against Newcastle with Pogba, Rashford, Martial, Mata, Lukaku, the full backs are not full backs, Valencia and Young are wingers not full backs. So I don’t know what you want.’
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