Would you sell Smalling or Jones to rival for 40m?

[MadMike]

No. Of course not.

Unless you're implying the money goes into my bank account. Then, feck yeah!

I've never understood why anyone sees exchanging players for money is as something they want to see. It's not our money and the club is loaded. If we're getting rid of someone who is absolutely shit to create space for a talented youngster then, sure, go for it. Otherwise, what's the upside for me as a fan? There is none.

If anything, the fans need scapegoats. Imagine what would happen if we couldn't take all our frustrations out on Smalling and Jones. First game we lose the forum would implode.

What a stupid idea this would be. Teams are screaming out for good defenders so feck knows why we'd go out of our way to sell them any of ours. Unless you've knee jerked and deluded your way into thinking they're both shite, in which you'd be totally wrong.

You know the Smalling narrative is getting beyond a joke when you've got people arguing he has no pace. Football, bloody hell.

Everton spent £25m on Keane and City want Evans for £20m. But the caftards would happily sell our CBs to the opposition even if they are better than what the opposition are signing. But you know, we'd easily replace them with some 21yo from a 3rd tier league that looked good in some youtube clips and costs more than double.

The mind boggles.

 

[UpWithRivers]

Sure....let them sleep with your wife and drink your beer while you are at it. Stupid idea to sell to rivals unless it doesn't necessarily strengthen them. Smalling and Jones are very experienced defenders that would strengthen all of them....for what 40/50 mill. Why?

 

[Kag]

Remember those idiots that thought Jose Fonte would improve upon our existing options?

Generally, the less this forum talks about our defenders the better. They're criminally underappreciated across the board, with few available alternatives that would better them. This applies from Valencia to Jones, right through to Shaw. Whether it be lack of patience, knee jerking or just general cluelessness regarding defending, some of these barmy opinions fly in the face of the defensive statistics we've witnessed for over two full years now.

Jones and Smalling are two of the best defensive centre halves in England. Ay, Smalling can't pass for toffee, and Jones is seldom fit, but when they're on the field they're very, very good. So much so that our shiny new toy from Sweden can't even get on the bench. Davinson Sanchez? He played like a right fecking nacker in that Europa final. He isn't improving anybody any time soon.

 

[Sky1981]

If anything, the fans need scapegoats. Imagine what would happen if we couldn't take all our frustrations out on Smalling and Jones. First game we lose the forum would implode.



Everton spent £25m on Keane and City want Evans for £20m. But the caftards would happily sell our CBs to the opposition even if they are better than what the opposition are signing. But you know, we'd easily replace them with some 21yo from a 3rd tier league that looked good in some youtube clips and costs more than double.

The mind boggles.

Smailing / jones are becoming 3rd and 4th choices center back.

Guess how much we bought the player replacing them for?

Baily
Lindelof
Rojo
Blind

All are bought around 30m or less.

 

[Red_toad]

at this moment in time we need both of them. Maybe later in the season one of them may be moved on. I'm very hopeful that Axel will be given a regular role in the team, he's such a good player.

 

[Ødegaard]

Wouldn't mind selling to Arsenal or Everton.
Would rather not sell to Chelsea, but they wo'nt have much use for them & they've sold good players our way without acting like spurs... So i wouldn't go all bonkers.
Spurs i'd hope for us to tell they can't afford any of our backups, while i hope we flat out refuse to listen to Pool and City.

 

[Kag]

Smailing / jones are becoming 3rd and 4th choices center back.

Guess how much we bought the player replacing them for?

Baily
Lindelof
Rojo
Blind

All are bought around 30m or less.

Smalling and Jones are both better than Lindelof. Rojo is out for another six months. Mourinho isn't playing Blind at centre half any time soon and there's overwhelming evidence to suggest that, when fit, Jones is a favourite of Mourinho's. Which makes sense because he's consistently performed when given an opportunity over the last twelve months.

So, they're second and third choice centre halves, and what good bloody options they are for us. Every weekend we get to watch our rivals defend like something out of Robot Wars, yet we rarely ever concede more than one. Honestly, appreciate it.

 

[MadMike]

Smailing / jones are becoming 3rd and 4th choices center back.

Guess how much we bought the player replacing them for?

Baily
Lindelof
Rojo
Blind

All are bought around 30m or less.

Are they? Because Sky1981 from the caf says so? Both have played as many games as any other CB when fit. Including high profile games.

- Blind is seen as a LB and emergency CB only, only fools and horses would take him at CB ahead of Smalling and Jones.
- Lindelof is not in a position to replace anyone yet.
- Rojo was signed as a LB (albeit a much better CB) and is out for a good few months to boot.

Smalling and Jones are currently 2nd and 3rd options respectively, only Bailly seems to be before them.

 

[settembrini]

Yes. But nobody will pay that much for either of them. If it was a more realistic fee then I would sell Jones to anyone because of his ridiculous fitness record but I'd rather sell Smalling to a non-rival.

 

[Sky1981]

Are they? Because Sky1981 from the caf says so? Both have played as many games as any other CB when fit. Including high profile games.

- Blind is seen as a LB and emergency CB only, only fools and horses would take him at CB ahead of Smalling and Jones.
- Lindelof is not in a position to replace anyone yet.
- Rojo was signed as a LB (albeit a much better CB) and is out for a good few months to boot.

Smalling and Jones are currently 2nd and 3rd options respectively, only Bailly seems to be before them.

Lol. Who here can predict our cb line up correctly 10 games in a row？

None of smailing/jones are solidly good enough to play week in week out. How many games in a row each of them manages?

I'm not going to make this about smailing / jones. My questions when i made the op is simply : would u consider swalling some ego in trade of a good deal? (whatever that good deal is). If city comes for fellaini for 30m you lot would have sent him next door yourself dont you?

 

[MadMike]

Lol. Who here can predict our cb line up correctly 10 games in a row？

None of smailing/jones are solidly good enough to play week in week out. How many games in a row each of them manages?

I'm not going to make this about smailing / jones. My questions when i made the op is simply : would u consider swalling some ego in trade of a good deal? (whatever that good deal is). If city comes for fellaini for 30m you lot would have sent him next door yourself dont you?

I wouldn't sell City a virus. I'd sell Fellaini to Galata ahead of any rival, we don't need the money.

Considering we'd spend as much money if not more to replace Jones and Smalling, I don't see the point in that transaction either. Not being able to predict the CB line up is kind of irrelevant. They both play a lot of games and are needed and if they were sold they'd have to be replaced.

We signed Lindelof for £30m rising to £40m. And he doesn't seem in a position to replace either of Jones or Smalling atm. Why would I entertain the thought of selling them and having to replace them?

 

[Kapardin]

I don't rate Smalling and the jury is out on Jones as far as I am concerned, but I would absolutely loathe it if they played for a rival, even if they were mediocre. Especially Liverpool or City. Maybe it has to do with the fact that both of them have been very committed in their time here.

Even the thought of Evans signing for City does prick a bit, though he is by no means at the standard we require.

 

[villain]

Lol. Who here can predict our cb line up correctly 10 games in a row？

None of smailing/jones are solidly good enough to play week in week out. How many games in a row each of them manages?

I'm not going to make this about smailing / jones. My questions when i made the op is simply : would u consider swalling some ego in trade of a good deal? (whatever that good deal is). If city comes for fellaini for 30m you lot would have sent him next door yourself dont you?

That means absolutely nothing.
Between injuries and fixture pile ups, it's unrealistic to expect any player to play week in week out 3x in 10 days.

 

[Robbie Boy]

No fecking way! I don't even particularly rate Smalling but can you imagine he went to Arsenal. It would be like Welbeck all over again: The media would suddenly decide that instead of being rubbish, he's actually fantastic and we are selling our soul! The meltdowns on here about Welbeck make me absolutely deplore the idea of one of our players - no matter how average they are - moving to a rival.

 

[Zlatattack]

If we had better alternatives in our squad right now, then yeah why not. I don't think either player is very good and it'd be nice to have someone elses fans fustrated and hamstrung by their faults. It's not like selling Vidic or Rio, but at the same time it's not like we have Vidic or Rio to replace them.

I'd always prefer to sell to a club that wasn't a rival though, unless we were selling Lingard, City could have him...lol

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

What ? No he isn't, he is regarded as one of the best upcoming ball playing centrebacks in the game. Showed it aswell in EL final last year.

He's okay on the ball but Ajax are certainly compromising by playing him in their system. He's a terrific defensive prospect nonetheless.

 

[rcoobc]

Smalling, no.

Jones, yes.

 

[Hed Zitin]

With the Rojo and Lindelof situation. No. We need them.

 

[Craig Ward]

Strengthening a rival is not worth any amount of money. A club out of the top 6 without hesitation, but not a rival. Look how foolish Arsenal looked when RvP won us the league. Hopefully Chelsea will have similar egg on their face at the end of this season.

Would Smalling or Jones strengthen any of the top clubs? I highly doubt it.
40 million would be a bargain for either, most likely wouldn't get 40mil for both!

 

[stu_1992]

No I wouldn't. The money here is irrelevant because the club don't need it. You don't want to be in the business of selling players to rivals in case they need up being the missing piece for that club. You've shot yourself in the foot then. Aside from this, I believe that we should keep all of CBs currently as we always seem to have an injury crisis in that position.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Would Smalling or Jones strengthen any of the top clubs? I highly doubt it.
40 million would be a bargain for either, most likely wouldn't get 40mil for both!

Uhh, what?

They're both far better than Stones.
They're both better than Mertesacker.
They're both better than almost all of Liverpool's options.
Cahill is getting old so they'd arguably be better long term options for Chelsea.

The only club they wouldn't strengthen would be Spurs who already have the best CB partnership.

 

[SirAF]

No, feck that.

 

[MadMike]

Would Smalling or Jones strengthen any of the top clubs? I highly doubt it.
40 million would be a bargain for either, most likely wouldn't get 40mil for both!

Who cares how much other clubs would be willing to spend on them? Think how much we'd have to spend to replace them. We always have to pay a premium when we buy. We spent £30m on Bailly and and another £30m rising to £40m for Lindelof. That's £60m-£70m in 12 months.

City are spending £50m per CB and they are not even that good. Who would you exactly replace Smalling and Jones with? Would the team improve or worsen as a result?

 

[Craig Ward]

Who cares how much other clubs would be willing to spend on them? Think how much we'd have to spend to replace them. We always have to pay a premium when we buy. We spent £30m on Bailly and and another £30m rising to £40m for Lindelof. That's £60m-£70m in 12 months.

City are spending £50m per CB and they are not even that good. Who would you exactly replace Smalling and Jones with? Would the team improve or worsen as a result?

I'm not saying sell them both, I'm saying based on they're injury records/ability we wouldn't be able to get 40 mil for either.

I would let one of them go, that would be Smalling.

We would have Bailly, Lindelof, Jones, Rojo, Blind and Tuanzebe. More than enough quality/cover there.

Smalling would probably go for 20-25. He'd not improve Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea, City. Arsenal maybe he'd improve

 

[Massive Spanner]

I'm not saying sell them both, I'm saying based on they're injury records/ability we wouldn't be able to get 40 mil for either.

I would let one of them go, that would be Smalling.

We would have Bailly, Lindelof, Jones, Rojo, Blind and Tuanzebe. More than enough quality/cover there.

Smalling would probably go for 20-25. He'd not improve Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea, City. Arsenal maybe he'd improve

Not sure about that, never underestimate the tax added for an English passport. Just look at Walker and Pickford!

 

[Robertd0803]

Part exchange for Sanchez sure I would.

Only way Id consider it.

Doesn't matter who the player is no way should you ever strengthen a rival unless its some weird scenario where you benefit with more than a transfer fee. So in this case Arsenal can have Smalling plus cash in exchange for Sanchez. Sure Smalling would probably turn in to the next Tony Adams for them no doubt but we would be getting the bigger upside of that deal signing Sanchez which would also massively weaken them up front. Only deal I can think of in the league that worked for both sides was the Gallas/Cole swap. RvP being sold to United?-insanity from an Arsenal point of view.

Offering us money and only money? Get stuffed.

 

[Sky1981]

Put it this way.

Would you rather sell to city/liverpool for 40m?

Or to everton or whatever teams for 25m?

 

[el3mel]

Definitely no. We need both this season because who knows how much time Rojo will need to regain his performance after the injury, and Lindelof needs a long time to settle. 4 senior defenders are the absolute minimum for a title challenging club.

 

[tomaldinho1]

He was atrocious on the ball in the EL final. Mourinho clearly knew this as whenever Sanchez was on the ball, nobody pressed him. He was allowed to stroll in to our half with it, because he kept blasting it up the pitch aimlessly.

As soon as De Ligt had the ball, he was pressed. De Ligt is a ball player. Sanchez is not. Similar to Smalling, he is a physical brute but not a ball player.

I like the look of Sanchez, and he defends well as a pure defender, but on the ball he makes Smalling look like Beckenbauer. He doesn't even look good on the ball in the Eredivisie and that is a pisspoor league.

This

Our game plan out of possession was 'let him have the ball'. He's also pretty w*nk positionally but in fairness usually has the pace to recover.

 

[red4ever 79]

Absolutely.Would bite their arm off. but only if it meant we used that money and upgraded

 

[broccoli]

Smalling yes, Jones no.

 

[AkaAkuma&]

Why would United want to pull an Arsenal or a Chelsea?? Selling to direct rivals in the league is never ok no matter who the player is. So Never.

 

[SAFicus]

Im sure im stealing someone else's line here, but I wouldn't give them a cold, let alone a player.

 

[Brwned]

Poll added.

Jones has the potential to be the best centre back in the league, IMO. Smalling is a level below but very reliable and he would make a huge difference to someone like Liverpool, in spite of his obvious flaws.

 

[Obiorahking_]

Not to arsenal, city, or Liverpool considering that jones and smalling is better than any Cb they have. Terrible buisness

 

[ash_86]

Yes, i dont see them setting the stage on fire.

 

[Obiorahking_]

What do you care? You've got Pique, Umtiti and Macherano. I know

They are all trash

 

[All 3 United]

Jones - No
Smalling - Yes (£40m - I'd drive him down the M62)

 

[ManUArfa]

Under LvG, I seem to recall Smalling being one of the best defenders in the league.

Indeed he was and was hailed as such by the TV pundits. No good on the ball? He seemed to do well enough in LVG's possession based system and, as I recall those seasons, he was totally dominant in the air against 'lump the ball in the box' teams; and his clever positioning enabled him to make countless last ditch tackles.

 

[antsmithmk]

Does each Caf member get a cut of the 40 large?

No?

Then how do we, as fans, benefit from it at all? £40m barely buys you anything in this market. It sure as shit shouldn't buy you title winning England internationals on the verge of entering their peak years. The fascination with received fees is weird in general. Your ticket and shirt price isn't dependent on it, and the club don't need to sell to buy. The whole "...as long as we get £x million for him" is bizarre to me.

More importantly; Rojo is injured, Bailly is still young, Lindelof isn't ready. Smalling and Jones have big roles to play this season.

Even more importantly; Smalling and Jones are good players.

No.

Very good post sir. I would only add that both are 'very good' players, not just 'good'.

With Rooney gone the spotlight from this forum seems to have now shone on these two. Both players are more than worthy of a place in the squad. The obsession with weeding out the deadwood in the squad needs to stop. Every United team I've seen has had its mix of mega stars and squad players able to do a job.