Jose Mourinho insists Marouane Fellaini wants to stay at Manchester United but there is still no agreement about a new contract.
Fellaini has entered the final six months of his existing deal and is free to sign a pre-contract agreement with foreign sides.
The 30-year-old has developed into an important player for Mourinho and the United boss is keen to keep the midfielder at Old Trafford beyond the end of the season.
Primarily, Mourinho is concerned that losing Fellaini and Michael Carrick in one summer would require huge investment before they even look to improve their current options.
Fellaini has already rejected a contract offer from United this season but Mourinho claims the Belgium international’s intentions are to stay at the club.
“He’s a very important player for me, he’s a great professional who is giving everything he can to help the team,” The Independent quote Mourinho as saying on Monday.
“There is a desire from myself, the board and the player to stay together, that’s our objective. Are we going to reach, going to agree? I don’t know. What I know is myself, the board and the player would like to have a happy end.”
“I’m happy with his contribution, he is being a great professional for us. I know he wants to stay with us, he knows I want him and the club wants him but then there is a paper to sign. You can only sign the paper when you are happy with what is in the paper so let’s see what happens.”
Fellaini missed all of December with a knee injury and has managed just 38 minutes of action since returning in an FA Cup clash against Derby at the start of the month.
United have a win ratio of 90.9% when Fellaini has been involved in the Premier League this season compared to just 46.2% when he has not featured at all.
