Marouane Fellaini was named Man Utd captain in 2017 and Jamie Redknapp thought it was a joke

GiveMeSport

·1 December 2021

Marouane Fellaini was named Man Utd captain in 2017 and Jamie Redknapp thought it was a joke

Marouane Fellaini never felt like a ‘Manchester United player’ but that didn’t stop the Belgian midfielder from making 177 appearances for the club.

Fellaini was very much a panic buy by David Moyes, who’d failed to land any of his top targets at the end of his first transfer window after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson as United manager months earlier.

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Moyes knew Fellaini well from their time working together at Everton and convinced his new employers to splash out £27.5 million on the Belgium international on deadline day in September 2013.

Fellaini ended up staying at Old Trafford for five-and-a-half seasons, scoring 22 goals during that time.

He also won several trophies including the FA Cup, EFL Cup and the Europa League.

But when Fellaini eventually left Manchester for Chinese club Shandong Luneng in January 2019, few United fans were upset to see him leave.

He would always give his all whenever he pulled on the red shirt and scored some important goals, but his technical shortcomings often left the Old Trafford faithful frustrated.

Despite all of the criticism that came his way, Fellaini even managed to captain Manchester United when they faced Sunderland in April 2017.

Handed the armband by Jose Mourinho ahead of the likes of Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba and even Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fellaini played the full 90 minutes as United sealed a 3-0 victory at the Stadium of Light.

Jamie Redknapp thought Fellaini's captaincy was a joke

However, when news of Fellaini’s captaincy first filtered through, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp thought it must have been a joke.

Presenter Dave Jones asked Redknapp: “Think of the great leaders that they’ve had in recent years, would you put him up there?”

“No I wouldn’t really.”

Redknapp continued: “I think they probably haven’t got the leaders that Jose wants, that’s why he’s gone with him as captain.”

It was awkward that Redknapp was stood next to Phil Neville, a member of Moyes’s coaching staff who may have had an impact on the decision to bring Fellaini to Old Trafford in the first place.