Marouane Fellaini’s departure from Manchester United “agreed in principle”

It’s happening! It’s happening! The one thing that we were expecting to happen today, is happening!

And so, it’s time for the battle over his legacy to begin. In the red corner, we have Never Should Have Bought Him, Sign Of Decline, and Useless Lump. And in the, er, other red corner, we have Always Gave His Best, ably supported by Which Is More Than Can be Said For Some and Better Limited And Committed Than Brilliant And Lazy.

CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTERS.

In true, fence-sitting fashion, TBB reckons both sides have a point. And in any case, It’s not his fault that David Moyes panicked at the end of a weird summer. It’s not his fault Jose Mourinho decided to try and recruit him into a dressing room-splitting culture war. It’s not his fault, ultimately, that he played for United for as long and as often as he did.

In those circumstances, all a body can do is take the chance their given and work as hard as they can. Which he did, more or less.

Anyway, he leaves us with several lovely memories, not all of which involved elbows. A personal favourite: that time Jack Wilshere almost went for him, looked up — and up, and up — and then squirrelled off into the distance like a small man in a Scrappy-Doo outfit. Best of luck, Marouane. Enjoy China.