Special circumstances. How hard is it to understand that we were never likely to land this player for just about what he is actually worth? Whatever that is, I mean. We have shedloads of money compared to just about any team, we are keen on an Everton player, needless to say we ain't likely to get him cheaply. Release clause is just about best case scenario. We end up paying - what - four mill on top of that? That's stupid, nobody would disagree. Us being in for both the 'Fro and Baines being part of it, though, clearly. Moyes wanting them both, waiting for some deal to happen until the last. Alright, it's not how I would've played it myself, as I don't really see why Baines is all that necessary.
But the money is what the feckin' money is. If you, as United manager, want Fellaini - he's not gonna come much cheaper than his release clause under the circumstances. It's a domestic transfer, we're gonna get fleeced, that's the way it always is. So, what, in essence, is the problem here? That we could've spent the same amount on some other player, presumably better than Fellaini? Alright, that's not an insane objection.
But go along with this speculation, if you will, I don't think it's too outlandish: Fellaini was a player Moyes wanted to add to the squad from the very beginning. Not as a marquee signing, as they say, but as part of a deal that was gonna get him his two best players from his time as Everton manager. He thought those two players might come in handy. That, in itself, is not odd at all.
Nothing suggests that this was the end of his transfer ambitions, though. He also wanted a top midfielder. Someone like Cesc Fabregas, an undisputed top shelf player in his position. We ended up going for precisely Cesc, no doubt because we had been encouraged in one way or another, but the deal couldn't be done at the end of the day. Why it fell through is anyone's guess. Was it that we weren't willing to lay enough gold on the table - or that the player himself decided, finally, that he'd rather stick around, under a new manager who had (perhaps) given him reassurances his former manager hadn't. feck knows. But it dragged on and it never came to pass, eventually.
Fellaini, the poor sod, wasn't a desperation purchase. He was part of the plan from day one, one of two midfielders Moyes wanted to recruit. The other was a top notch CM, a big name even, and Moyes was told Fabregas was - in fact - available. Which he was. But it didn't work out for one reason or another. And then our last minute efforts to land someone else failed too. We ended up with just Fellaini, at that price, because we - for some reason - wanted a double deal with Baines.
Moyes wanted his two boys from Everton and one top class midfielder. He ended up with one of his boys from Everton, at 27 mill or whatever the feck it was. That means we didn't handle ourselves brilliantly in the market. But it's impossible for us to say to what extent Moyes is to blame for this.