Report: Napoli make first "official" Fellaini approach

This is news that will likely frustrate most Napoli fans, but it shouldn't: this is the way most complicated transfer deals work.

According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Napoli have made their first "official" approach to Manchester United with the interest of acquiring midfielder Marouane Fellaini. The two sides have been informally discussing a loan deal for some time now, and this official step indicates that a deal could, finally, be close.

This isn't actually all that unusual for a complicated deal like a loan for Fellaini has become. Instead of eating up all the time of the bigwigs in transfer deals, like Riccardo Bigon and his equivalent in Manchester United's offices, folks lower down the food chain go back and forth putting together the general framework of the deal. They consult with their superiors now and then to make sure nothing unagreeable is in place, and then once the general structure of the deal is done, the bigwigs "officially" make contact and hash out the finer details.

Now that we've hit that second stage of negotiations, this should either come to a positive conclusion or fall completely apart fairly quickly. The odds favor Fellaini signing soon, but given the issues that the two sides had just getting to this point, don't be shocked if something comes up again that kills the deal.