totally agree. I'm still confused we let him out with so much low quality CBs still at the club.
Let him go because Ole had already settled on his starting partnership of Lindelof and Maguire with Tuanezbe being the backup. Beyond that it was Jones, Bailly, Smalling and Rojo.
Jones constantly injured as such no one really was considering putting in a bid for him and Baily injured and no one really putting an offer out for him. Rojo was shopped around and the Everton deal fell through. Smalling he'd have probably kept as 4th choice but, seems like they talked and the club having so many CBs, so if they got an okay deal for 4th choice CB, they were okay with it. All in all that's not a bad thing considering there is debate on who is better than who.
Personally, I thought it was a mistake to not at least give the Smalling/Maguire partnership a try. There is no guarantee but, I do think Smalling at the back this season would have netted us more points. Not to mention he is actually also a threat in the opposition box. Right now it's oh look for Maguire and hope on almost every set piece.
It's one of those summer decisions that was made for the long term that has come to haunt us but, unlike the Lukaku and Sanchez ones, this one really didn't need to happen.