Marouane Fellaini has decided to lend 3 million euros to his former club Standard Liege to save the Belgian club from being force into liquidation and relegated from Belgian Pro League.
Standard Liege were already debt-ridden this season, but the league cancellation due to COVID-19 outbreak accelerated the process of bankruptcy.
Early April, Belgium FA refused to grant a licence to the club due to unpaid salaries.
The club hierarchy sought ask for help from all of their former players including Fellaini who currently plays for Shandong Luneng and Axel Witsel, who plays for Borussia Dortmund.
Fellaini have a reason to help. He begin his professional career with Standard in 2006. At the age of just 19, he became the best young midfielder at the time, before joining Everton in September 2008.
Today, he lend 3 million euros to save the club.
Witsel begin his professional career around the same time as Fellaini in 2006, when he made a debut for Standard at the age of 17 years old.
He helped the club won two league titles and one Belgian Cup title, playing for 150 appearances for the club.
Today, he invested 2 million euros in a project with a group of investors seeking to buy the club’s stadium and then rent it back to them, thus saving the club from financial crisis.
Standard, who finished 5th in the league and 3rd behind Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt in Europa League group this season, have appealed the decision and the club said they were confident they would prove their financial viability at its hearing on May 5.