Moyes: Fellaini now proving his worth

David Moyes insists Marouane Fellaini is finally starting to justify his £27.5 million price tag.

After missing out on Thiago Alcantara and Cesc Fabregas last summer, Moyes decided to boost his midfield ranks by signing Fellaini from Everton.

A few eyebrows were raised at Fellaini’s price tag — especially when the midfielder was available for £4m less earlier that summer — but having worked with the Belgian for five years at Everton, Moyes was convinced he had the right man.

However, Fellaini has struggled to live up to expectations. The 26-year-old scored 32 goals for Everton, but he is yet to find the net at United while some of his passing displays have been forgettable. Spanish newspaper AS was so unimpressed by Fellaini’s performance in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich that it did not deem the tall midfielder worthy of a mark out of 10 in their match report.

Like Fellaini, Moyes has found the switch from Goodison Park to Old Trafford tough, but the United boss is sure the 6ft 4in midfielder is starting to show his worth.

“It’s not an easy move coming to Manchester United, as I can tell you,” the United manager said.

“For Marouane, I think it’s proved equally as difficult, but I have to say I think he has done a lot of good things and he has improved.

“I actually thought Marouane got better as the game went on (against Bayern). We needed him and I thought he played very well.

“We bought Marouane Fellaini not to play every single game in the Premier League. We have bought him for several games. He did a great job at West Ham, against Aston Villa and against Bayern.”

After a season full of disappointments, Tuesday’s 1-1 draw against the reigning European champions was an uplifting experience for Moyes. Nemanja Vidic put United ahead in the second half and had it not been for a couple of missed chances, the Red Devils could have come away with a highly creditable win.

Moyes knows there is much work to be done for United to make it through to the semi-finals.

“We don’t want a pat on the back for just getting a good performance,” Moyes said. “The job is to beat Bayern Munich. We want to beat them and knock them out.”

United now stand 10 points off the top four with six matches left. If United fail to beat Newcastle today or Liverpool beat West Ham the day after, the Red Devils’ hopes of retaining the Premier League will be mathematically impossible. Pride and momentum will therefore be gained if United can win at Newcastle, so Moyes wants his players to totally forget about Wednesday’s second leg against Bayern until Saturday night.

“The only thing we are thinking about is the Newcastle game,” Moyes said. “The focus is all on Newcastle.”