Besiktas confirm interest in Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini

London, Nov 8: Jose Mourinho's fear over tying key midfielder Marouane Fellaini could be genuine as Besiktas club official Metin Albayrak has confirmed that they are trying their best efforts to sign the Belgian midfielder in January window or for the next Summer.

The Belgian accepted a further extension of his previous contract in this year's January when Manchester United activated the one-year option in the midfielder's contract.

Now Fellaini's current contract is set to expire at the end of the season and if United can't persuade him to sign a new deal before January 1, the 29-year-old will be allowed to sign a pre-contract with another club in the winter transfer window.

The Belgium international has had a fine start to his United career under Mourinho this season and the United manager Jose Mourinho is said to be a huge fan of Fellaini's abilities and wants the Belgium midfielder to remain at Old Trafford for years to come and aspires to tie him up to a new contract before the end of the year.

According to reports, talks are progressing well between the club and the player, however, it has now emerged that Fellaini is understood to be unsatisfied with United's current offer and has reportedly stalled the deal as of now.

United have a policy that if a player reaches his thirties, the board only offers the player an extension of one year and Fellaini and his agent are believed to be unhappy with such conditions as they reportedly want a long-term stay at Old Trafford.

In this contract stalemate, adding salt to the injury, Metin Albayrak, a member of Besiktas' executive board, has confirmed the club are keeping tabs on the 29-year-old to take advantage of the situation and are trying to get a deal done soon.

"Fellaini is on our list, we have made efforts to sign him but not just him," Albayrak said to Turkish media.

"He is not the only player we scouted, our scouting team watched 20 games live this week.

"Transfer plans never end, we are always working. We are keeping tabs on several players.

"The club has plans for Turkey and Europe, there are negotiations. We want to make the signing of the winter transfer window or for the end of the season."

Apart from Besiktas, the Belgium international midfielder was also linked with a switch to Galatasaray and Trabzonspor in the Summer, however, the deal did not materialise.

Since last season, Mourinho has always backed the big Belgian after many of the United fans protested against the player and even boo him once. The Belgian showed his faith in the manager and has been performing consistently this season as he already secured four goals.

The relationship between the manager and player is excellent now and both of them admitted earlier that they hope to see each other in Manchester for a long term.

And if the situation and their good professional relationship are looked at, it can be said that today or tomorrow, the Belgian will mostly agree to a new contract at the club to prolong his United stay for one more year at least.

However, if a lucrative offer and more game time come his way, with the World Cup on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how the player actually reacts.