Fortunately we don't judge players based on what their team-mates say about them. Two young players in a team praising another young player; not exactly unheard of.
No-one praised Macheda, Diouf, King, Rossi, Ebanks-Blake, Campbell, Hernandez or Welbeck in the past? They were all judge harshly and fairly by their team-mates, who weren't in any way trying to relieve the pressure on them by recent poor performances.
Welbeck on Smalling (when Vidic and Ferdinand were still at the club)
"I would have to say Chris Smalling is the most difficult to get past in training. He’s one of our fastest players and can rival most of the forwards for pace. He also reads the game really well and is always in the right place at the right time, clearing up any danger. I’m just glad that I get to play with him for both United and England. I’d hate to play against him!"
Smalling on Rooney (2 months ago)
"He's our talisman up there. When you've got him you pretty much know you are going to start the game 1-0 ahead because he's going to get a goal. His record is tremendous and to have that sort of pace and the width around him is just brilliant."
If you believe Rooney scores every game, Smalling is close to the perfect centre back and United have brilliant pace and width upfront, then yes, base all judgements on quotes.
Sure Ryan Mason thinks Nabil Bentaleb's brilliant and Harry Kane praises Andros Townsend. Walker probably thinks Eric Dier is top quality in training. It's extremely hard to judge until we see it on the pitch. They're all professional footballers so good enough to make millions of pounds from the sport, so they've clearly all got talent.
The quote tells you nothing you don't already know from watching the guy on his progression so far up the ladder.
