Linked with a move away by Graeme Bailey of the Gambling Times! He's not going anywhere, at least until the summer.
Nope
He's better than Van Dijk, however contrary to what a lot of people have said in this thread, he is dreadful on the ball and infinitely worse than what we've got.
I wouldn't sell him unless we had an immediate starting replacement lined up, him and Jones seem to have a decent understanding and the 3 of Smalling, Jones and Shaw playing together regularly does England no harm whatsoever... although it's likely that Southgate would persevere with others instead.
I wouldn't sell him unless we had an immediate starting replacement lined up, him and Jones seem to have a decent understanding and the 3 of Smalling, Jones and Shaw playing together regularly does England no harm whatsoever... although it's likely that Southgate would persevere with others instead.
I hope Chris doesn't go to Arsenal - he'll get tons of stick when their defence gives their latest performance of Escape From Victory.
Sell him get Evans back 
I'm willing to bet money that once fit Jones will not be dropped. Jones is our best defender.
Arsenal
Straight swap for Harry Maguire please. We sell a dud and get a ball playing tank (194cm, 100kg) in return
Straight swap for Harry Maguire please. We sell a dud and get a ball playing tank (194cm, 100kg) in return
Mkhi swap is final and as is, no refund!!!
I'd keep him. Definitely wouldn't sell to arsenal
feck sake, half our team is going to be playing at Arsenal and half their team is going to play here at this rate.
Not his biggest fan as some people might remember. I got pelters for having an agenda against him but I realise now that he's a good player on his day and good option to have. I wouldn't want him to go unless an offer over 30 million came in.
Think Arsenal have convinced themselves that they took Mkhi from us and had the better deal. Now they are coming for a player who is starting regularly for us.
Smalling is not indispensable, perhaps we can upgrade on him in another year or so. But we have other problem positions to address in the summer, and I'd prefer we retain our current crop of CBs to spare the cash. All of them have their flaws, but they are for the most part quite solid and dependable on their day.
Smalling is not indispensable, perhaps we can upgrade on him in another year or so. But we have other problem positions to address in the summer, and I'd prefer we retain our current crop of CBs to spare the cash. All of them have their flaws, but they are for the most part quite solid and dependable on their day.
Alderweireld has been making noises about his wages and reportedly has a 25mil release clause if they trigger his contract extension for 2019.
I wouldn't mind us selling Smalling at a good price to Arsenal if we out that cash towards a serious Alderweireld bid in the summer. Levy is above all a business man and will listen to bids before risking him going for 25m or less.
I wouldn't mind us selling Smalling at a good price to Arsenal if we out that cash towards a serious Alderweireld bid in the summer. Levy is above all a business man and will listen to bids before risking him going for 25m or less.
Did I hear correctly that video ref is coming to the league next year? If yes, get rid this year for sure. He can't defend without pulling shirts, he's going to be bloody useless.
He’s a good defender. Why would we sell?
I rate Jones as the most in-form defender in the league currently! The idea of selling him is ludicrous in my opinion!
Nope. He's a good defender and our lone CB that is strong in aerial duels although he had a rough go of it against Burnley this weekend.
I'd keep him around as an option but wouldn't be that gutted if we sold him and had enough defensive cover.
Always think he’s a good squad player but I must say he in particular has stood out as making a few mistakes recently (thankfully that didn’t result in goals).
Still think Phil Jones’ lack of effort for the Vardy goal was more worrying than anything else for our centre backs.
Still think Phil Jones’ lack of effort for the Vardy goal was more worrying than anything else for our centre backs.
If Ed pulls this one off, this would be the best January transfer window in our history! Swapsies for Ozil. Come on Woody, get it done! And ship off Darmian back to Italy, while you're at it.
Swapsies for Ozil. Come on Woody, get it done! And ship off Darmian back to Italy, while you're at it.Also, even if Smalling is not deemed to be good enough for us, I don't think we should make a habit of selling to a rival. One thing to sell Welbeck who doesn't score much or Mkhi for whom we get Sanchez in return, but Smalling will definitely strengthen their defense and will put in some good performances. Not having that.
After buying Welbeck their fans would go ballistic if they signed Smalling from us.
Maybe in the summer, but we'd be silly to sell now with Bailly injured. Smalling is currently a first team CB and is arguably our only "tall" CB, with the rest of our CB's standing at about 6ft1. In this market, £30m is a decent enough fee for an regular England international.
Wouldn’t like to see him leave right now but if Arsenal make a good offer in the summer I wouldn’t be sad to see him go. TFM looks like he’s done enough at Palace to deserve a place in our squad so he would take up Smallings role.
I'd sell him but not now, in the summer. The only reason he's in the team is because he's the best defender fitnesswise. On the ball he is awful and he may have height but there are plenty of defenders out there with height and can pass the ball. Maguire at Leicester is one example. This isn't to discredit Smalling in any way, I like him as a defender and back in the day he would've been seen as the perfect old fashioned centre half but now football is heading in a direction where defenders need to do more than just defend. They are seen as the first attackers too and are expected to contribute in an offensive way. Especially at big clubs. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks and unfortunately I don't think Smalling can help the team progress in this respect.
Please let this be true, the AFTV meltdowns would be immense after his brainfarts
I certainly hope not.
No way
No fecking way we let him go in the middle of the season. Especially considering how often our CBs get injured.
He's basically first choice at the moment, can't see us selling. There is no 'need' for us to sell, especially when Lindelof is suspect and Bailly is injured. Jones and Rojo have terrible injury records as well. No deal.
I don't think he's a very good footballer and I wouldn't be sad to see him leave. He's one player we should easily be able to replace.
Straight swap for Ozil.
You actually think we would be weakening Arsenals defence if we sold them Smalling?Please let this be true, the AFTV meltdowns would be immense after his brainfarts
I wouldn't even sell him for Van Djik-money, and the club won't neither. Simply because we don't have to.
Smalling-Koscielny would be better, attacking-wise, in that Arsenal team than Jones-Rojo are for us in our setup. Arsenal would be infinitely better defensively too. Bailly and Lindelof still lack experience at this level but have talent. We also have Fosu-Mensah and Tuanzebe. We have talented young players that are not ready. What we don't have is defensive problems. Why create a gap in our squad when we don't have to?
I can't see us making any defensive personnel changes in the next 18 months, after that we'll see where Axel's development is.
I think he'll be sold at some point but I hope he's not sold to a rival. Aside from City he'd improve every team in the league.
Who sells Alexis Sanchez and once the paperwork is signed then asks about another player from the club they just sold Sanchez to?
A monster in the air, but gets too tight on players.
Hope we keep him. He's a good squad player.
Hope we keep him. He's a good squad player.
Mourinho will never agree to sell him.
Ridiculous. I'm not Mike's biggest fan, but he seems to get stronger and stronger - the feck ups are pretty much non existent this season. I think we've got a great collection of defenders, and unless someone genuinely better is signed, I don't see why we'd sell any of them, and even then, I'm not sure Smalling would be the one to go.
If Arsenal are interested it'd have to be a big money move and a promise of much more money for Smalling - it's not like he's a bench warmer. I know it sounds ridiculous, but with his current form and standing in the team, Arsenal need to be offering 50 million to even begin tempting the club I reckon.
If Arsenal are interested it'd have to be a big money move and a promise of much more money for Smalling - it's not like he's a bench warmer. I know it sounds ridiculous, but with his current form and standing in the team, Arsenal need to be offering 50 million to even begin tempting the club I reckon.
Because he’s just not the quality we require at United. I would never trust him in a pressure cooker situation in the semi-final or final of the Champions League against a top club because he would just shit the bed. We’re playing Stoke and Burnley and fecking Leicester and he can barely cope, what do you think will happen if we played Barcelona, Real and PS fecking G? We’ll get absolutely mauled!