I always fancied Smalling over Maguire for England - despite struggling to ever actually give a shit. So, I knew we'd over-paid when we got him, but English tax and getting a proven Premier League centre-back coveted by all the top teams felt like a win. He had a decent start but last season was a disaster. That said, none of us can pretend we weren't hoping to get him back for the Europa. By the back of last season, he was rightly blamed for mistakes, but there were more team mistakes than Maguire mistakes. He's not a bad player. He's not a great player either, and at that price, he should be a great player.
But you know what? He didn't actually set his fee, he didn't make himself captain, he isn't paying himself his wages and he doesn't select himself. I don't know if his mate spoke to the press or not, but I don't give a shit and I think it pretty pathetic any of you do. I know it's internationals and everyone is bored, but Manchester United fans getting on their feet to berate their own players more than they do celebrate goals is getting fecking boring. It's remarkable how you all bang on ABUs and press conspiracies when you're waving a fecking umbrella around in a storm to catch the clickbait. Some bland rumoured comments from a friend of a friend, yes please, we'll snort right up and furiously share across social media.