Rumors begin swirling around Marouane Fellaini leaving Everton

It was inevitable that rumors concerning Maroune Fellaini making an Everton exit this summer would get started sooner rather than later. To be honest, I'm a bit surprised it's taken this long for the first reasonably legitimate ones to begin surfacing.

John Chapman, a respected Belgian football writer, tweeted today about Fellaini's release clause and his desire to play a more defensive mid role.

Chapman goes on to explain that he has no knowledge of a pending move or which team might be interested but apparently Chelsea are a popular pick amongst the Belgian media, which occasional mentions of Manchester United.

Both teams make potential sense in terms of the type of player Fellaini is and their potential needs. David Moyes is of course familiar with Fellaini and could be angling to bring him over to United, though Leighton Baines might be his more likely target.

For me Chelsea makes a lot of sense as Jose Mourinho will be looking for a deep lying midfielder and Fellaini could be just the type of player to fit into the midfield of Mou's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.

No doubt Evertonians won't like these rumors and would love to hold on to Fellaini but if Everton can get £20+ million for the Belgian, there's little doubt in my mind that Roberto Martinez would be more than happy to turn that around into a two or three players to help bolster the roster.

One thing is for certain, this is only the beginning of speculation surrounding Fellaini this summer.