Marouane Fellaini has thanked Louis van Gaal for handing him an opportunity to prove himself as a Manchester United player after a difficult start to his career at Old Trafford.

The Belgium midfielder was signed by David Moyes from his former club Everton on transfer deadline day for £27.5m but endured a testing first season, making only 12 Premier League starts.

His future was unclear when Van Gaal was appointed to succeed Moyes in the summer but the 27-year-old has since established himself as a first choice in the Dutchman’s midfield.

“Some of the newspapers said that Van Gaal didn’t want me, but I knew the truth,” Fellaini told the Times.

“When he spoke to me he told me that he wanted me to show him that I could play. That was it. After that, I showed myself in training and then I started to play.”

United have won six successive matches to catapult themselves into the top three in the table. Fellaini, who has been ruled out of Saturday’s game against Aston Villa with illness, admitted he has been delighted by their progress and believes they have an outside chance to win the club’s 21st league title.

“In some ways it is too early to talk about the title because we are still building and it is only December, but we are winning matches consistently again and when that happens your belief grows,” he said.

“At the very least we have to be in the top four; we must do that. I wanted this challenge.”

Fellaini also dismissed a question about whether he has ever thought about shaving off his trademark Afro haircut.

“It’s my style and I’m staying like that,” he said. “You either like me or you don’t like me. It’s not my problem. I don’t care. Some people were saying I should have my hair cut and that would change everything, but that is just stupid.”