Loan Watch 2019/20: Chris Smalling at Roma

Sideshow Bob

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Good luck to him hope he does well.

Think he needed a fresh start somewhere away from Utd he’s not as bad as some make him out to be and fair play to him for taking the chance of going abroad.
 
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Hopefully he plays well enough that they buy him.

Utd doing the right thing by moving on he's not as bad as some make out but a fresh start was long overdue and from the sound of it he's had 2 decent games for Roma since he arrived.
 
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They’ve already said they won’t be making the signing permanent.
 
I read yesterday his stats this year are better than Van Dijk
 
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Now talks of a £15m deal to be completed next week.
 
Fee feels a little low but that’s the market I guess if he’s happy to make it permanent let it happen.
 
Looks like he’s doing well there so probably best for all parties. £15m is a little low, no doubt would be more if it was selling to an English club.
 
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Still think we would be better off with Smalling ahead of Lindelof on defence. Would like to see a Smalling/Maguire partnership.

Sure he would like to come back but if Ole doesn’t see him as a viable option then think he will probably go, sure Roma would love him, he has been amazing so far for them.
 
I think the club want to cash in it's time to move on from him and Jones.

If the club somehow managed to sell Jones, Bailly & Rojo next summer then keeping Smalling makes some sense because he's better than those 3 but we pretty much know he's not good enough for where we want to be.

I actually think the move away will be good for him for me the focus on him at Utd is to great.
 
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Strange seeing a loan player as captain must be making the right sort of impressions hopefully Utd can get a permanent deal sorted with Roma sounds like he's loving life over there
 
he's doing really well there, maybe the pace of the game suits him better.
 
Can't say I've watched him play but the standard in Serie A isn't as high as it is in England especially the teams outside the top 5 or 6 compared to the teams in England who sit outside the top 5 or 6.

I think we all know Smalling wasn't the worst centre back at the club far from it which is probably why someone actually took him compared to the others who no one wanted to even look at but part of the moving forward is a total revamp so if we can get him off the books then we can start working on the others. Maybe some will think you know what takes these guys out of the mess that is Utd and they actually do alright and Utd probably aren't going to charge you a silly price if you come knocking.
 
Strange seeing a loan player as captain must be making the right sort of impressions hopefully Utd can get a permanent deal sorted with Roma sounds like he's loving life over there
Or better yet bring him back and see how he plays alongside Maguire.
 
Or better yet bring him back and see how he plays alongside Maguire.

Or bring back Evans?

We've got to stop looking at the past and move forward.

Smalling had 10 years to prove he was a top class centre back and while he proved he's was a good one he couldn't make that step up to the very top so we move on. It's the same with all these players who've hung around being alright for the last 6 years over the next few summers they've all got to go and be replaced by better players and that list is massive it's time to be brutal and clear the decks.

This isn't hating on Smalling if we could somehow sell Jones, Rojo and Bailly next summer then bring Smalling back as part of your group of 4 with Lindelöf, Maguire and Tuenzebe but if he's doing well at Roma and they say offer us £20m for him then we have to take it and move on.

I do however think Smalling probably wants to move on and establish himself somewhere away from Old Trafford and I think it's best for everyone if he leaves as there's a stigma to him with certain fans that will never go away.
 
I like Smalling, but he's not good enough. Much better than Rojo and Jones and Bailly, but I guess that's why no one those players.

We need to drop at least 2 of those 3 and then buy another piece of quality and have

Lindeloff
Maguire
Axel
TFM
and one other.

Probably bin one of those too.
 
CB remains an unsolved problem for me I don't think we've found a partnership yet Maguire is doing ok but he's not exactly pulling up trees. Personally I don't rate Lindelöf he's nice on the ball but he's not a defender who controls defensive situations he never dominates the opposition centre forward in a way a top defender does and that's a problem.

I do think we should give Tuenzebe a run of games alongside Maguire this season to see what he's got in the locker we all know this season is probably a write off in terms of CL qualification through the league so lets see if Tuenzebe is going to be good enough. I think there's signs of a decent player there but if he wants to develop he needs to be playing every week to iron out the mistakes.

TFM is another one who just needs to be sold or released if his contract is up.

Overall though the defence I think has been reinforced enough the focus next summer has to be the midfield that area of the pitch needs a total rebuild and if we can also freshen up the attack.
 
Southgate and his assistant Steve Holland went to watch him play vs Inter tonight
 
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Is there a point to haggling over £2m. Accept the deal and move on to moving on Rojo, Bailly and Jones and work out who you’re bringing in as the replacement.

Maguire / Lindelof / Tuanzebe and one other signing should be the CB’s at the club next season.
 
Is there a point to haggling over £2m. Accept the deal and move on to moving on Rojo, Bailly and Jones and work out who you’re bringing in as the replacement.

Maguire / Lindelof / Tuanzebe and one other signing should be the CB’s at the club next season.

Well in these low value deals it’s a big % difference there’s no point being silly we should get the deal done but Utd shouldn’t be push overs we saw with Lukaku in the summer if you stick to your guns teams will pay.

Smalling should easily be fetching €20m even if some of that was bonus related I know we pay premium prices but they sold Manolas in the summer for €35m I know he’s younger but Smalling is hardly an old guy so I think €20m is more than reasonable.
 
Oh I think he should be fetching £20m I just also think that at this point just get rid, off the books and move on. We've got other things to worry about take the £18m and run with it.
 
Evans would be our best central defender if we brought him back now, never should have let him leave. Smalling has found his perfect comfort zone in Italy, whether it's the pace or the tactical style, it doesn't matter. He's doing wonderfully there, they love him, and he should stay.

Rojo, Jones, Bailly should also look elsewhere.
 

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