Smalling / SIGNED for Roma

[Focusmate]

Well he wasn't our permanent manager so I doubt he had much say in that - and it was a 4 + 1 deal - but yes, we should have not given him that contract.

I still find it strange that not one club is interested in signing Jones. He is not good enough for us - but he is a hell of a lot better than anything WBA and Fulham have

Phil Jones new contract is for 120k a week basic I think - literally noone else is going to pay him anything like that much.
Only way he moves on is a subsidised loan like with Sanchez. With our “deadwood” it should be about getting wages off the book not holding out for transfer fees

 

[Wheato]

The modern day defender needs to be able to play out from the back or bring the ball forward when the opposition put everyone behind the ball. Smalling hates having the ball he always wants to get rid of it as soon as possible. He can defend and keep up with pacey strikers, and he's pretty decent in the air, but we need a Rio Ferdinand to support Maguire.

 

[MikeKing]

Exactly I agree as I was one of the very few saying we were crazy letting him go on loan while at the time keeping Jones and Rojo .

It was no need for it really. When we bought Maguire for such a huge fee I thought it was to partner him up with Smalling. Like the club finally said say feck it, lets just go with it and see where we are with a balanced experienced partnership. Instead we replaced our best CB for years in Smalling with Lindelof and as a result Maguire didn't get the best terms to thrive coming into the side, considering his flaws.

Favouring Jones and Rojo as backup is insane and to a lesser degree going with Bailly, Lindelof and Tuanzebe ahead of Smalling is also a little crazy. I get that we're building for the future, but to loan Smalling while keeping Jones and Rojo does neither, it just weakens us and doesn't build anything. Now we're seeing Lindelof is not good enough, Bailly is still getting injured, Tuanzebe as well, and Chris probably doesn't want to play for us anymore as he feels unappreciated and hard done by.

It will be another season of sideways improvement at best, looking to follow Mengi and other youth prospects to see if they can fill in instead of Jones etc. Maguire wont magically become quicker, and Lindelof wont magically become a dominant CB or a leader.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

It was no need for it really. When we bought Maguire for such a huge fee I thought it was to partner him up with Smalling. Like the club finally said say feck it, lets just go with it and see where we are with a balanced experienced partnership. Instead we replaced our best CB for years in Smalling with Lindelof and as a result Maguire didn't get the best terms to thrive coming into the side, considering his flaws.

Favouring Jones and Rojo as backup is insane and to a lesser degree going with Bailly, Lindelof and Tuanzebe ahead of Smalling is also a little crazy. I get that we're building for the future, but to loan Smalling while keeping Jones and Rojo does neither, it just weakens us and doesn't build anything. Now we're seeing Lindelof is not good enough, Bailly is still getting injured, Tuanzebe as well, and Chris probably doesn't want to play for us anymore as he feels unappreciated and hard done by.

It will be another season of sideways improvement at best, looking to follow Mengi and other youth prospects to see if they can fill in instead of Jones etc. Maguire wont magically become quicker, and Lindelof wont magically become a dominant CB or a leader.

I dont agree we favoured Smalling over Jones, Rojo and Bailly. He was the only one with any value.

it would have been perfectly reasonable for the club to say to the manger that he can bring in Maguire, but needs at least one CB off the books - the only one we could get a decent loan for, and now transfer fee for us Smalling.

 

[reddevilz007]

Latest offer quoted is up to 17 mil euros for Smalling. We better accept this, and move on quickly with our own purchases.

 

[Tel074]

I dont agree we favoured Smalling over Jones, Rojo and Bailly. He was the only one with any value.

it would have been perfectly reasonable for the club to say to the manger that he can bring in Maguire, but needs at least one CB off the books - the only one we could get a decent loan for, and now transfer fee for us Smalling.

And there alone tells the tale of how badly the club is being run . That we allow a better player to leave solely because he's wanted by another club while keeping lesser players

 

[davidmichael]

We won’t get £20 million or €20 million for Smalling, we’ll end up loaning him back to Roma with obligation to buy for €8 million or something because we can’t negotiate incomings or outgoings on even a semi competent level.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

£20m??? Good money? Is he really a quarter of the player Maguire is? Answer: No.

I don't get this. He is 31, our staff for reasons I don't understand didn't want to keep him, and he just came off arguably his best season. Most players his age go for peanuts. If it wasn't for corvid we'd comfortably have gotten 40m for him off the back of his loan form. I count that as a win. The loss is we will still be stuck with useless Jones and won't be bringing in a reinforcement to improve us.

 

[The Red Thinker]

I don't get this. He is 31 and just came off arguably his best season. Most players his age go for peanuts. If it wasn't for corvid we'd comfortably have gotten 40m for him off the back of his loan form.

This.

 

[Ranchero]

Yes, lets compare Smalling, who rarely played, vs someone who is always in our best starting 11.

You are missing the point, which was deliberately flippant!

 

[Ranchero]

I don't get this. He is 31, our staff for reasons I don't understand didn't want to keep him, and he just came off arguably his best season. Most players his age go for peanuts. If it wasn't for corvid we'd comfortably have gotten 40m for him off the back of his loan form. I count that as a win. The loss is we will still be stuck with useless Jones and won't be bringing in a reinforcement to improve us.

I followed you, until you said you count his departure as a "win". The idea of a loan situation is that you keep tabs on the individual on loan and if he performs then it gives you a potential option.

 

[Ekeke]

And there alone tells the tale of how badly the club is being run . That we allow a better player to leave solely because he's wanted by another club while keeping lesser players

He also wanted to leave for what he thought was a good chance and it worked out for him. He was told Lindelof would start and Tuanzabe would be the backup, he can obviously do better than being 3rd or 4th choice CB at United and he wants to do that

 

[Woodenlung]

Just sell him. He really isn't that good and the Dee raised could lead to us signing another player.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

I followed you, until you said you count his departure as a "win". The idea of a loan situation is that you keep tabs on the individual on loan and if he performs then it gives you a potential option.

He gave us the potential option to raise money to get an upgrade. Sadly our transfer controllers are shockingly too incompetent to take advantage.

 

[Mainoldo]

Better than Maguire it’s a shame.

 

[manunited1919]

Our best defender. Do not sell him.

 

[0le]

We need to keep him. He is our best defender.

 

[Bojan11]

Drive him back. Abort the deal.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Our defenders:

A crazy man, a weak and passive man, a slow man, a sick not, a crazy Argentine, and an actual defender with a very good track record but looks awkward when passing and probably will go to Rome.

 

[Marcus]

We are not selling.

 

[Sandikan]

Scrap this deal ASAP.
Put him in alongside Maguire

 

[SirMattlives]

After today, one wonders...

 

[frookydinho]

People have short memories. Smalling is not good enough. I remember him going to Roma the reaction of relief and finally moving on average squad players.

Yet here we are and people are demanding he stays and plays

 

[flappyjay]

People have short memories. Smalling is not good enough. I remember him going to Roma the reaction of relief and finally moving on average squad players.

Actually revisit the thread as this is not the truth.

 

[Bwuk]

Just because our current lot aren’t good enough doesn’t mean you should keep someone who isn’t either.

Move on. He wants to. So do United.

 

[MattofManchester]

Smalling and Lindelof was and is still a better partnership than Lindelof and Maguire. They're average, but they're one of our better average ones.

 

[BigBebe]

Smalling is our best defender. He is not a great defender but he is better than the others we have. He will never be the man for silky passes out of defence but he is actually reasonable at the basic job of stopping goals.

Watching yesterday's game, yes there were individual errors, but if you just look at the basic shape and positioning of our defenders, it was utterly shambolic. Smalling at least brings is some ORGANISATION to the defence.

Woodward has made some catastrophic moves in the transfer market in his time but selling Smalling could be right up there as one of his worst.

 

[Zed 101]

Have to agree Smalling is to handsy grabby for me but all in all right now he would be a welcome returnee to the fold unless there is more to his being shipped out than we know

 

[G4stars]

I find it totally strange why we would let Smalling go. At this point in time he would be the 1st defender on the team sheet. I just don't get it.

Not one of Maguire, Bailly or Lindelof has proved to be any better.

 

[christinaa]

Why lose Chris Smalling for £20m?

Because ED needs some cash to try to fund Cavani.

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

He can't play out from the back, even the relegation candidates play out from the back. Selling him is the right decision. I think Blind is the one we shouldn't have sold but that ship sailed a long time ago.

 

[roonster09]

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[BigBebe]

He can't play out from the back, even the relegation candidates play out from the back. Selling him is the right decision. I think Blind is the one we shouldn't have sold but that ship sailed a long time ago.

Do you mean like Bailly did yesterday?

 

[Infestissumam]

how the feck has this deal not happened? Are we being difficult or are Roma being cheap ... or both? Just mind-boggling. It feels like there's been hundreds of report of Roma offers all summer, they clearly want him and we're not asking for the moon. Crazy stuff.

 

[OneUnited24]

Man he must be pissed. However it’s good to see consistency in our board. They suck on both fronts

 

[ti vu]

WTF. Conflict report.

If Smalling not leaving, would he get registered to play? We're now 2 or so player over the limit.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

Not happening.

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[Woodenlung]

Can't sell a player who wasn't in the managers plans, who wanted to leave, who had a willing buyer.

 

[Castia]

What an absolute mess.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Can't sell a player who wasn't in the managers plans, who wanted to leave, who had a willing buyer.

Could not fecking make it up.