Manchester United star Marouane Fellaini has seen his future at the club thrown in to doubt after being left out of their first tour game, reports the Daily Express.
The Red Devils are currently in the United States to prepare for the new season, and the 27-year-old didn’t feature at all in their first match against Club America. Even without the Belgian, United managed to win the game 1-0 thanks to a Morgan Schneiderlin strike.
This will be terrible news for the midfielder though, who only just seemed to be getting his Old Trafford future back on track. Last season the former Everton man managed seven goals in 31 games, and displayed a vast improvement on the performances he was putting out in the campaign prior.
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However, all may not be lost for Fellaini, with manager Louis van Gaal appearing to play down any fears that he could be on the way out of the club. The 63-year-old rightly pointed out that the Belgium international is suspended for the first three games of the coming season, and as such it is more important for other players to get game time at the moment.
“Fellaini didn’t play because he’s suspended for the first three [Premier League] matches so he has a longer time to prepare himself,” said Van Gaal. “And I need to see other players first.”
Even so, Fellaini will at the very least find it far more difficult to get in to the United starting XI next time round. The club has signed Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger to bolster their midfield this summer, and it is likely the pair will both play ahead of the ex-Standard Liege ace. He will be left to compete with Ander Herrera, Michael Carrick, and others for the final place in the midfield.
Whilst it is too early to write off the player given his superb response to criticism last season, the very fact that United have brought in two central midfielders in the transfer market could suggest that he has not sufficiently proven to Van Gaal that he is good enough to be first choice week, in week out.