Smalling loan watch

Andersonson

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Don't forget Fosu-Mensah and also Shaw of all people, why can't we just buy a natural DM without people wanting to shoehorn unnecessary players there.

Its one of the most advanced positions to play in, and people want Fosu and Lindelof playing there... I just dont get it
 

MadDogg

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Is he still tugging shirts at corners and free kicks? This was his speciality at United. VAR would slaughter us with him back in the side. If he learns how to defend properly then he's worth another go.
This myth again. He played under VAR multiple times. Never given. I believe VAR is being used in Seria A. At the World Cup we saw far far worse than anything he ever does happen time after time and it was never given except for one fairly soft one (so yes, there was one). And this year in the premier league we've continued seeing defenders do it all the time and as far as I know not a single one has been given. Just in the last league game Maguire was all over an attacker in a similar way - not given. And opposition defenders are regularly doing it to Maguire on our corners.

I do expect that he might give one or two penalties away throughout the rest of his career, but it is an absolute myth that it'd happen all the time.
 

A-man

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He does pick up a couple more injuries than what we'd want in a perfect world, but he was never particularly injury prone. He's always been available throughout the majority of the season.
I think he has been relatively free from injuries, at least compared to the other CBs in the club. I hope it is just coincidence that he has picked up two injuries in relatively short time, and not the age.
 

Bebestation

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The tugging on shirt thing is a non existent problem. Smalling plays the ball first if he is holding on to anyone at all and it's usually seconds and not a reproduction of being out of position or time of play.
 

thepolice123

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Is he still tugging shirts at corners and free kicks? This was his speciality at United. VAR would slaughter us with him back in the side. If he learns how to defend properly then he's worth another go.
Seen this being repeated constantly around here. Has this ever been a problem for our defence? I know he has a habit of pulling players but I don't recall him giving a penalty away.
 

UnitedChampionsAgain

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Seen this being repeated constantly around here. Has this ever been a problem for our defence? I know he has a habit of pulling players but I don't recall him giving a penalty away.
VAR wasn't around when he was trying to wrestle players to the ground at United. I don't watch him anymore but can only think he would be a problem back in the Prem. He wasn't even good at shirt tugging anyway as the attacker would invariably outmuscle him.
 

Halftrack

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I think he has been relatively free from injuries, at least compared to the other CBs in the club. I hope it is just coincidence that he has picked up two injuries in relatively short time, and not the age.
His injury record is pretty much identical to Rooney's. I did a write-up on it a while back.
If you exclude the metatarsal fracture, he's spent more than twice as much time injured over the last three seasons as he did in the preceding six, 126 vs 60 days.

If you include the metatarsal fracture, it's 126 vs 165 days, though in both periods he missed 29 games through injury (for a total of 58 over 9 seasons.)

I guess my point is that Smalling was never injury prone. Wayne Rooney was never considered as such, and he spent about as much time as Smalling out injured. In the seven seasons they were both here, Rooney spent 258 days out injured, missing 57 games. Smalling spent 256 days out injured, missing 50 games. He was unlucky and had a couple of semi-serious injuries within months of each other a couple of years back, which cemented his status as 'injury prone', but he had that reputation before those injuries as well.
 

Litch

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Selling him for 15m will be an absolute joke even if we don't want him.
 

nyanza

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Selling him for 15m will be an absolute joke even if we don't want him.
If he does well, I don't see why it won't be more. Won't be surprised if there are a few English teams interested as well and that would drive the price up.
 

MikeKing

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If he does well, I don't see why it won't be more. Won't be surprised if there are a few English teams interested as well and that would drive the price up.
Even a PL team like Burnley could arguably afford to pay 20m for him these days. The only thing speaking for Roma is that Smalling probably would rather play over there rather than a midtable club in the PL. I could see Arsenal come back in for him, possibly Chelsea too. In that case I think he'd prefer PL.

We should just get him back in the mix in January if possible. He has been very dominant and in good form this season, he could help us into the CL next season. Maguire needs more pace alongside him and we need to be more of a threat on set pieces. We could do with Smalling's 5 goals a season.
 

Bebestation

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It's what I said - we have to sell him for bucket loads or use him as a reason to keep him.

Use his transfer budget for someone like Dias near 1.1 or atleast half surely.
 

Revaulx

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Even a PL team like Burnley could arguably afford to pay 20m for him these days. The only thing speaking for Roma is that Smalling probably would rather play over there rather than a midtable club in the PL. I could see Arsenal come back in for him, possibly Chelsea too. In that case I think he'd prefer PL.

We should just get him back in the mix in January if possible. He has been very dominant and in good form this season, he could help us into the CL next season. Maguire needs more pace alongside him and we need to be more of a threat on set pieces. We could do with Smalling's 5 goals a season.
Burnley or Roma? Let me think about that...

He’d massively improve Arsenal, and would be an absolute bargain at £20m. I can’t say I would blame him if he’s unenthusiastic about returning to Old Trafford.
 

Sp00ks11

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So to all those who think Smalling is brilliant, why does nobody want him for any significant sum of cash? I hardly see a bidding war happening.. and I am seeing a fee of just 15-20 million.
 

Mcking

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So to all those who think Smalling is brilliant, why does nobody want him for any significant sum of cash? I hardly see a bidding war happening.. and I am seeing a fee of just 15-20 million.
Reputation.
 

Bebestation

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So to all those who think Smalling is brilliant, why does nobody want him for any significant sum of cash? I hardly see a bidding war happening.. and I am seeing a fee of just 15-20 million.
English players have hardly been faught after by clubs abroad have they? It greatly reduces the market in my opinion especially once your not exactly the youngest either.

Smalling at his age now should technically be at his prime (which he is), at one of the best Leagues he can be (which he is), and one of the best PL teams he can be at (which he has been at and been performing for at United). Even if he moved on now as others have said he is good enough to get in to clubs liek Arsenal, Tottenham's, Chelsea's back 4 - that's without looking at their preferences for philosophies of how they like to play and young players etc - but many gaps in defences to have a player like Smalling to just defend. We do too & still to this day would be the 2nd best defender at our club.

I think the whole - guaranteed starter thing was a bad move by Ole since guaranteeing starting position to Lindelof has done nada for us.
 

A-man

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He was for while a few years back, hasn't been injury prone for a good few years now though.
It is still a bit of taking a risk from Roma’s point of view. He has already had two injuries this first half of the season and is 30+. If they are going to invest money in a player I can see how they hesitate even though he has been playing well and seem to be what they need.
 

SadlerMUFC

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With Tuanzebe, Rojo, Bailley and now Maguire all out injured, can't we recall Smalling back from his loan at Roma? And if they still need a defender we can offer them Jones instead...
 

El Zoido

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I think he’s helped greatly by the league he’s playing in. That said, I’d have him back here and definitely put him ahead of Lindelof.
 

Oldyella

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I think he’s helped greatly by the league he’s playing in. That said, I’d have him back here and definitely put him ahead of Lindelof.
It really should have been him and Maguire as our first choice pairing.
 

DRM

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Maguire out for a while it seems. Need to recall Smalling back asap
 

Tarrou

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With Tuanzebe, Rojo, Bailley and now Maguire all out injured, can't we recall Smalling back from his loan at Roma? And if they still need a defender we can offer them Jones instead...
Does anyone know the answer to this? Do we have the option to recall?
 

roonster09

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Does anyone know the answer to this? Do we have the option to recall?
Roma paid loan fee for us, which usually means it's their option. We won't have any options.
 

top1whoisman

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Love this kind of stuff. I know a lot of players do it and it’s not a big deal for them (although if they did respond to every request they wouldn’t have time to play football), but it’s such a great thing for the kids.

 
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A-man

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Love this kind of stuff. I know a lot of players do it and it’s not a big deal for them (although if they did respond the every request they wouldn’t have time to play football), but it’s such a great thing for the kids.

Yeah, me too. The kid’s face when he saw Smalling, priceless. Memory for life for him.