Marouane Fellaini: I Want to Fight for My Place at Manchester United

Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini has revealed that he is ready to "fight for a place" at Old Trafford.

The 26-year-old was signed by the Red Devils' former manager David Moyes on a £27.5m deal from Everton in the summer of 2013. In his debut season, the Belgium international failed to live up to expectations and justify his price tag, with poor form and injuries restricting his appearances.

Fellaini was linked with a move away from Old Trafford in the recently concluded summer transfer window. The midfielder was not included in United manager Louis van Gaal's plan for this season.

An ankle injury to the tall Belgian in the final days of the transfer window saw him continue at United. Fellaini is ready to battle it out for a place in Van Gaal's starting XI.

"I want to fight for my place. The coach wants to play with the 11 players who make the best team. I want to be part of that," Fellaini explained.

"I've had a meeting with the coach before the start of the season where he told me that there is a lot of competition in midfield. I told him that I wanted to compete with the other players for a place in the starting XI."

"Louis van Gaal is a good coach. We have a lot of team meetings and he analyses much – other teams, our own players at training, a lot," the former Everton man added.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has strengthened United's midfield by adding Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera and Daley Blind to the squad. In addition to this, Michael Carrick is likely to return from injury in October.

With United out of the Capital One Cup, they have only the Premier League and the FA Cup to fight for. Getting a place in the starting lineup this season could be an uphill task for Fellaini, especially when Van Gaal has the services of Herrera, Blind, Carrick and Darren Fletcher.