Marouane Fellaini

Marouane Fellaini-Bakkioui (born 22 November 1987) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Born in Etterbeek to Moroccan parents, Fellaini played youth football for Anderlecht, R.A.E.C. Mons, Royal Francs Borains and Charleroi before joining Standard Liège.

After winning the Belgian Pro League and the Ebony Shoe as a Liège player, he moved to England to join Everton.

Between 2006 and 2008, he made 84 appearances for the club, scoring 11 times.

A full international for the Belgium national team from 2007 until his international retirement in March 2019, Fellaini amassed 87 caps and 18 goals for The Red Devils.

At Everton, Fellaini was the club's Young Player of the Season for 2008–09, when the club were losing finalists in the FA Cup.

He played for the team at the 2008 Olympics, the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016, and the 2018 World Cup, helping Belgium to third place in the latter tournament.

Fellaini was born to Moroccan parents from Tangier and brought up in Brussels.

His father, Abdellatif, was a former goalkeeper for Raja Casablanca and Hassania Agadir who signed for Racing Mechelen but was unable to play as his former Moroccan club refused to release his paperwork.

Instead of returning home, he opted to become a bus driver for STIB.

Fellaini is Muslim.

Born in Etterbeek, Brussels Capital-Region, Fellaini began playing football at the age of 7 for Anderlecht.

He also competed in athletics, with the 10,000 metres being his preferred event.

However, Fellaini's father Abdellatif, who was a professional footballer himself, guided his son towards football.

In his first season at Anderlecht's Academy, he scored 26 goals and in his second he scored 37.

He was at Anderlecht's academy until the age of 10 when he joined Mons, due to his father getting a new job in the city.

Three years later, he joined R. Francs Borains before leaving the club when he signed for Sporting Charleroi.

At the age of 17, he signed his first permanent contract with Standard Liège.

He is known for his heading ability and stamina, which made him one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the Belgian First Division and resulted in him winning the Ebony Shoe in 2008, an award given to the best player of the season of African descent.

After rejecting the advances of Manchester United and following reported interest from Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich, Fellaini signed for Everton in September 2008 on a five-year deal from Standard Liège for an initial transfer fee of £15 million (at the time a record for a Belgian player and club record for Everton).

He made his Everton debut in a 3–2 away victory at Stoke City on 14 September 2008, and scored his first goal for the team against Newcastle United in a 2–2 home draw on 5 October 2008.

Fellaini went on to score 9 goals in his first season.

During his debut season he was booked 10 times in his first 17 games and avoided a lengthy suspension by attending a personal hearing with England's chief referee, Keith Hackett, where he vowed to improve his behaviour.

He picked up three further bookings in 16 games following the meeting, his total the highest of all Premier League players that season.

At the end of the 2008–09 season Fellaini was named Everton's Young Player of the Season.

In England he has become well known for his large afro hairstyle, becoming a fan favourite with Everton fans regularly sporting Afro wigs as a homage to Fellaini.

Fellaini was deployed as a second striker during the 2008–09 season, when Everton had all of their forwards out injured, usually playing behind another midfielder being used as an attacker, Tim Cahill.

Later Fellaini reverted to play in his least favourite defensive midfield area.

His performances in late 2009 and early 2010 became so impressive that David Moyes labelled him "as good as anyone in the league", and he re-iterated this after Fellaini won Man of the Match against Manchester City on 16 January.

Fellaini was stretchered off in the 34th minute of the Merseyside derby on 6 February after a two-footed tackle by Sotirios Kyrgiakos, ruling him out for the rest of the 2009–10 season.

Kyrgiakos was sent off as a result of Fellaini's injury.

Fellaini suffered an ankle injury in an FA Cup replay victory against Chelsea in February 2011 and although he was able to play in a 2–0 win against Sunderland a week later, the injury caused him to miss the remainder of the 2010–11 season.

He did not play a competitive match until August 2011, when he appeared as a substitute in a 1–0 loss to Queens Park Rangers at Goodison Park and played the full match in the very next fixture, as Everton beat Sheffield United 3–1 in the League Cup.

In November 2011, he signed a new five-year contract with the club.

He finished the season having won the most tackles, aerial duels and made more passes than anyone else at the club.

He won the second highest number of tackles in the league and won possession of the ball 190 times, the most out of any player.

In the opening game of the 2012–13 Premier League season against Manchester United, Fellaini received plaudits for his outstanding performance, as he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory.

After five years at Everton, he transferred to Manchester United in a deal worth £27.5 million in September 2013.

Fellaini spent over five years at Manchester United, helping the club win four trophies including the FA Cup, EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League.

After more than a decade in England in total, Fellaini joined Chinese Super League club Shandong Taishan in February of 2019.