Fellaini rejects new contract, wants out of Old Trafford

MAROUANE FELLAINI has stunned Jose Mourinho by turning down a new Manchester United contract.

The big Belgian midfielder will now be able to arrange a pre-contract with a foreign club in the New Year and leave Old Trafford in the summer on a free.

There is already big interest in him from Besiktas in Turkey.

Fellaini was offered a new United deal in September and so far the club have been unable to pin him down but they will not sell him in January.

Fellaini’s decision has shocked the club at a time when the player has never been as highly thought of by the fans or Jose Mourinho.

Fellaini is on £120,000 a week and clearly the new terms in a two-year deal are not to his liking.

There will not have been a huge increase in his wages given that the player turns 30 next week.

As a free agent he will undoubtedly be able to demand a big increase on his current salary with another club given there will be no transfer fee involved.

Fellaini may also be looking for more game time because while he is a valuable squad member he is still not first choice when everyone is fit.

Of his nine appearances this season six of them have been from the bench.

Fellaini signed in 2013 on a four-year contract with the option on the club’s side to trigger a further year which they did for this season.

He was unpopular with the fans when he first arrived at Old Trafford in a £27.5million move from Everton.

He was seen as the on-pitch symbol of David Moyes' doomed ten months in charge.

Things did not improve under Louis van Gaal when he was used as a target man late in games just to fire long balls to.

He has still gone on to make 142 appearances for the club, 49 of them as a substitute, and was a key figure in the Europa League final win over Ajax, which he started.

Fellaini missed six games through injury until he returned to the squad for the trip to Chelsea before the international break, when he came on as a sub and nearly clinched a late equaliser.