Fitness worry as Everton's Marouane Fellaini hit by virus

Aug 3 2009 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

MAROUANE FELLAINI is struggling to be fully fit for the start of the new campaign after being laid low by a virus for much of the summer.

Everton manager David Moyes revealed yesterday that Fellaini suffered significant weight loss as a result of the infection which has hampered his pre-season preparations.

Fellaini has nevertheless appeared regularly for Everton in recent weeks, and played the full 90 minutes of yesterday’s 2-2 friendly draw at Coca-Cola Championship outfit Coventry City.

But Moyes admits the 21-year-old is taking time to recover from the virus and regain his full strength.

“Fellaini has had an illness for most of the summer which has affected him,” said the Scot. “He has lost quite lot of weight and it’s noticeable looking at him how thin he has become.

“It has definitely had an effect on his overall performance but I thought he improved a bit today.

“He picked up a viral infection in the summer. It got into his blood, he lost a lot of weight and he wasn’t a boy that could afford to lose any weight.

“It is going to take a little while I feel for him to get his full strength back. I don’t think he is there yet.

“He has not been right all through pre-season and he is still not right. When you are the shape and build he is, when you lose weight it’s not all that easy to put it back on.

“Since he has come back we’ve been trying to get him built up, but the weight is not going back on at the moment.”

Speculation increased over Joleon Lescott’s future after he failed to make the journey to the Midlands.

But it emerged the defender stayed behind at Finch Farm for treatment on a hip injury that will also rule him out of tomorrow night’s friendly at Blackpool.