Personally, seeing as he’s English and a United graduate (hence probably overvalued in the market), I’d get rid in the summer. I reckon some PL upstarts will pay us about £20m-£25m for him. His injury record is terrible, and he doesn’t look in the Upamecano/Konate bracket of young centre halves anyway, nothing that we would necessarily rue for years and years. Another will come along just as good before long. Mengi looks to be made of the right stuff for instance.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 10
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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Starts for the U23s tonight against Stoke.
Cheers for the heads up. Hope he manages to stay fit for the rest of the season.
He's made of glass this lad. Seems to be a running theme of defenders at this club. Got a bad injury at Villa too and missed about 3 months.
Rest of the week would be a start.
I was looking forward to seing him play alongside Maguire. Such a disappointment. The reason Lindelof starts is he is the only other defender who can keep fit for any given time.
This lad has missed 3/4 of a season with unknown injuries.
This lad has missed 3/4 of a season with unknown injuries.
Axel Tuanzebe acting as unofficial counsellor for Manchester United's younger players
Tuanzebe is a regular source of advice for Manchester United's team-mates and viewed as a future captain
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ing-unofficial-counsellor-manchester-uniteds/
Tuanzebe is a regular source of advice for Manchester United's team-mates and viewed as a future captain
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ing-unofficial-counsellor-manchester-uniteds/
If he has the ambition to become a future captain he first needs to stay fit and actually play games... Lindelof really isnt the best so the 'partner to Maguire' job is there to be taken if he plays well and stays fit.
I think this whole captain thing is doing more harm than good. He hasn’t performed at PL level yet, why stress him that they have so high hopes that they’ll even turn him in to captain. When he was captain against Rochdale it felt kind of forced, that he would captain Pogba, Mata and other more experienced players.
He has not proven anything at PL level yet. So it is all hype still.
I like his song so I hope he makes it.
Smalling should have stayed and Tuanzebe should have gone to a PL club on loan this year. What good has a few games in the carling cup and reserves done for him?
I have added his interview to the United Official Podcast thread for anyone who would like to listen.
He's been injured. I don't understand what the fans dont understand. You cannot keep a player against his wishes. Smalling did not want to fight for his place, he wanted guaranteed football. That on it's own is weak mentality.
Tuanzebe stayed and wanted to fight for his place and if he done well, he would probably be first choice. However; he has been injured since the Liverpool home game.
Yes he's been injured but it still doesn't change the fact even when he's fit he doesn't play. He's fighting against 5 centre backs when he should be playing regularly at his age, he won't make it here at this rate.
Good to hear. To be brutally honest if he can't stay fit and start to cement a place in the first team squad he's done here regardless, but he seems like one of those good characters you hope will make it.
If you look, when he was fit he was on the bench and ready to start games, he was 3rd choice. It doesnt help when he keeps picking injuries up.
I am sure if he is fully fit for 8 months he will get his chance to show what he is capable of.
What a crock of crap, how do you know what did or didn't go on in converations with Ole. A player who wants to play isn't weak if he needs to move elsewhere to play. He's gone out on loan and been one of the best performing defenders in serie A. Do you suppose Ronaldo is also weak as he had to leave Real to ensure he continued as a first choice?
Because it was mentioned earlier in the season, he didn't want to fight for his place. He was not willing to fight for his place. Okay he has gone and done well at Roma? so what? Lukaku is the best ST in Serie A, should we get him back too?
It is quite silly to compare Ronaldo and Smalling because Ronaldo did work hard and fought for his place at United and showed why he should start every game. His numbers for United were amazing, his numbers for Real were out of this world. Smalling hasnt done 1/1000th of Ronaldo so it is pretty weak from your side comparing those two.
Ronaldo had weaknesses in his game when he was at United, he worked on them and became better.
Smalling had weaknesses and never improved on them.
Seems a good kid with a good attitude but that means nothing, if this lad cannot get fit and stay fit we should not keep him around solely because he's a 'good lad'. We have Teden Mengi hot on his tail as a future potential CB for us to provide backup for our backups. I'd love Axel to make it here, but it's looking iffy.
Sorry but I just dont see that. He stayed the last several seasons when we were signing a new cb every year and fought for his place. If I had to guess, and that's all any of us can do given we dont know what happens inside the club, Ole told him he was not going to get a shout with Maguire and Lindelof first choice and wanting to bring Acel through.
And weak mentality wanting to play every week and moving abroad? Weak mentality is the likes of our other long line of CBs happy to pick up wages and play every other month.
I don´t think that´s correct. Just before he got injured, he was getting more an more game time and he did very well. If he´d stayed fit, I believe he would have been a regular starter by now, on the expense of Lindeløf.
Tuanzebe will be great for us, and should go nowhere. Get rid of Jones and promote Mengi; then we´ve already got what we need in the central defence.
Where did I state we should bring back any of our ex players? Maybe you got that from the same place as to why Smalling was moved out on loan?
Ronaldo left Real as he wasn't going to be the main man, regardless of how he performed previously, so again is he weak? I don't know why you brought his time at United into the equasion, as United did not wish to sell him. I wasn't comparing the two as players, just that they share similar circumstances, as in the new manager doesn't fancy them, very silly of you to think I was comparing them as players.
You love throwing out these ridiculous sensationalist and often baseless labels. Smalling was literally in our squad for 10 whole seasons, many times winning his place back from new centre halves. But because he eventually left, he has a ‘weak mentality and no fight?’
This is the point though, he's made of glass and isn't staying fit - these are the prime years for a player to develop. If he can't get himself together then people like Mengi will leap him.
Yes I do.
Would you not think Smalling decided to stay and fight for his place, he might have got the role next to Maguire? I was a huge defender of Lindelof but he keeps getting bullied by players, we keep conceding from crosses.
We are crying for someone to take over Lindelof next to Maguire. I hope either Axel or Bailly can cement their place instead of Lindelof until the end of the season.
If Bailly can stay fit, I reckon he can be first choice.
He is a beast of a defender, no nonsense and quite composed on the ball.
How can you possibly say that when he’s been injured all season.
Guy fought for his place against far better defenders than Maguie or Lindelof. Joined the club when we had the best ever central defensive pairing I've ever seen at United. What changed I do not know, I doubt he left as he's mentally weak.
I've seen lots of players this season hide on the pitch for United, Smalling, no matter what always showed he can handle adversity.
Even if he managed to stay fit all season I still think it would have been the better choice.
We now have Lindelof/Maguire/Bailly/Jones and already got rid of Rojo and Smalling. It's just too many to compete with.
Tuanzebe needs proper first team REGULAR football to improve. By the time he's 25 he won't even have 100 appearances in the premier league.
Yes I would love to have seen Smalling Maguire combination. I was not his biggest fan but I now think he is a much better defender than Lindelof. We do not need to have two ball playing CBs. One is good enough if the other is a good defender. As for Tuanzabe nothing has shown that he is good enough to be a regular CB at a top club.
I think Ole's plan was to pair Lindelof and Maguire, the way he has, and introduce Tuanzebe slowly with the easy cup matches n the beginning of the season, which he also did. Then Axel would get more and more PL minutes in December when the schedule was getting hectic and if he was good enough, he would compete for a place in starting XI. He has been unlucky/made of glass and not been able to play, but from what I have seen he has performed a level below PL standard.
This is a big concern for him. He is 22 years old and I am not sure he even has one full match as CB? The club is also in a position where they can't elaborate too much with the defence. I know people complain about Lindelof, but the fact that he and Maguire have played almost every PL match together 1 or 2, is worth a lot and not something Ole can afford to experiment with.
He needs matches and play week in, week out. A loan to a PL club would be perfect if that is possible. As it is now, he is not good enough to fight Lindelof and Bailly.
agreed, mentally weak is probably too strong a word. I think with the injuries we have had, we could easily have had him taken over Lindelof by October.
Phil Jones should not be counted as a CB, he is hardly ever fit.
Since December, Smalling has not been good enough to be starting CB for United imo.
He´s been injured twice, and I think it´s a bit premature to conclude he´ll be an injury prone player - or made of glass, as you say. Bailly at the same age, had already been injured (2+ weeks) 6 times.
Bailly has had a certain amount of bad lack but then again he causes injuries with carelessly flinging his legs into areas they can get twisted and hurt.
It's fair to say they're both injury prone. Extremely athletic but muscles that twang like guitar strings.
I don´t understand these romantic ideas about Smalling. He´s a good defender - especially in the air - but we brought in Maguire because Smalling was useless with the ball in his feet and made it very difficult for us to play out from the back. Have people already forgotten? Basically everyone in here wanted rid of him, and Ole made it clear he would not be first choice at the CM - hence he wanted to leave to make sure he would not be a bench warmer at the age of 29. Nothing to do with weak mentality, or whatsoever. He was just not good enough for United and Maguire has proven to be a major upgrade.
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