Everton: Why it might be better to sell Baines than Fellaini

At the beginning of the 2010/11 campaign I thought Marouane Fellaini was absolutely hopeless, but then again so was the rest of the team. However, as the season wore on, I could understand why David Moyes had spent a club record of 15 million on him. In the meantime in another position on the pitch was the always reliable Leighton Baines.

While Fellaini was getting yellow cards seemingly at will, Baines was having his own standout season with many assists and goals and also taking the set piece specialist title from the soon-to-be sold Mikel Arteta.

Now, two years later, the tabloids are going nuts in saying which two of our world class players will be soon to depart us, to Chelsea and Manchester United respectively. Baines will be reportedly sold for £15 to 20 million while Fellaini would be sold for £20 to 25 million. The question begs, who should we sell?

Well, if we want to almost finish off paying our debts then maybe the 24-year-old Belgian would be a better option. However, the way in which Fellaini played in the second half of last season was absolutely unbelievable, contributing goals and assists as if he was a regular number 10. That's why I am of the thought that Fellaini is irreplaceable, playing either in his deeper box to box midfield position or in an advanced midfield role, tucked in behind Nikica Jelavic, either of which positions he dominates the pitch.

Now we come to the case of Leighton Baines. The Everton number three has been our main supplier of creativity since the two sales of Mikel Arteta and Steven Piennar. The 27-year-old England international was signed for just five million in 2007 from Wigan Athletic. His crossing ability from the left hand side and his set piece specialist ability have made him a Goodison crowd favourite over the past few years.  

Now, why do I think it would be better to sell Leighton Baines than Marouane Fellaini? Simply because I feel that is much harder and more expensive to find a good dominant central midfielder than it is to find a quality left back. However in saying this it should be said that hopefully neither players will have to be sold in order to raise some transfer funds, and rather we could sell borderline squad member like Joseph Yobo and possibly even the Everton legend Tim Cahill, even for a few million just so we can maybe have enough funds to bring in some good quality players.

Calling all Everton fans. Do you agree with David? If you had to lose one of your star players would you pick Baines ahead of Fellaini or do you think Baines is irreplacable and would do everything to keep him? Whatever your views, we'd love to hear from you.

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