Chris Smalling Could Be Man Utd's Short-Term Solution to Their Centre Back Problem

Manchester United need a world class centre-back if they are to even have a chance of getting back on level terms with the best in the Premier League and Europe in the coming years.

But the chances of that happening this summer, when there are less than two weeks remaining of the transfer window and there has still been no movement with primary attacking target Jadon Sancho, are slim and increasingly diminishing.

Even if not for the long-term improvement, United at least need something extra because things cannot go on as they did with how lacklustre Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof were in last weekend’s defeat to Crystal Palace – both looked lost and off the pace throughout.

United have the numbers already. There are eight, perhaps even nine, players who can play at centre-back. But it has become a quantity over quality situation and that number includes the likes of Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones, both of whom can be firmly classed as deadwood.

Then there is Eric Bailly, who has missed more football than he’s played since joining United in 2016, Axel Tuanzebe, who is well liked by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but another who is often injured, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who has played centrally during loans at Crystal Palace and Fulham, and Teden Mengi, who only turned 18 in April and is a brand new addition to the first-team squad.

There is no competition to threaten Maguire or Lindelof as starters, nothing pushing them to stay sharp. Is it little surprise, then, that they appear to be regressing rather than improving?

United want to sell players that are surplus to requirements to try and fund more signings during a difficult financial period. The problem is that there is no interest in players like Jones, Rojo, or Andreas Pereira or Jesse Lingard further up the pitch. None have done anything in the past few seasons to make them appealing to other clubs, especially in this climate when it everything is a risk.

The only player there seems to be serious interest in is Chris Smalling following his impressive re-birth while on loan at Roma last season. Roma want to make the deal permanent, but United are playing hardball over the fee and an agreement hasn’t been reached.

The Serie A side are expected to make a second bid after an £11m offer was rejected, but it is thought United are holding out for £18m. If they will get it is unclear and the question that must follow is whether they stick to their guns over price or lower their valuation to get rid.

But with no long-term solution obviously available to the centre-back conundrum and potentially only a relatively nominal windfall to come by selling him, it seems as though United could do a lot worse than simply keep hold of Smalling and bring him back into the fold for at least 2020/21.

The 30-year-old still has a contract at Old Trafford until 2022 that can be pushed to 2023, so staying for one more season wouldn’t see United particularly lose out financially, especially when the numbers (£11m to £18m) at stake are relatively low in the wider context.

For United, Smalling is arguably a different player to the one that Solskjaer decided had no future in Manchester in 2019. The player who left was injury prone and had struggled with his fitness for a decade, which in turn often affected his performances because he was rarely sharp.

It is no coincidence that Smalling was at his best for United during the 2015/16 campaign when he stayed fit for the whole season and played over 50 games for the first time in his career – 35 of them in the Premier League. He also often captained the team at that time and generally looked the part, an elegant and assured defender, the player United always hoped he would be.

Injuries and fitness concerns soon took over once more and Smalling’s use to a new-look United with eyes trained very much on the future was no longer there.

Now, however, he has won the battle with his fitness after making a key change to his diet.

Smalling initially cut out red meat to try and aid his physical recovery after games, as well as knee problems stemming from tendinitis. Seeing improvements, he decided to alter his diet completely to go fully vegan during the 2018/19 campaign – his last at United – and it has had a major impact.

“I'm constantly getting stronger and getting better results,” he told Sky Sports in February 2019, having made the switch to veganism. “Even before I went vegan, in terms of cutting out red meat, my tendinitis and recovery after games was vastly improved.

“I had quite a few symptoms, but since I went fully vegan I don't feel it at all anymore. The second day after a game is often when I feel most fatigued, but my fatigue levels have gone down and, on the second day, I've felt a lot more recovered than previously.”

While at Roma, Smalling played 30 Serie A games, only the second time in his career he managed 30 league appearances in a single season. United haven’t yet seen the benefits of the new fitter and sharper Smalling, whose confidence has also been buoyed by his rave reviews in Italy.

Since returning to England over summer, the player has been training away from the rest of the squad in anticipation of securing a permanent move away – a factor of the current times. But maybe now the time has come for Solskjaer to reconsider what Smalling could bring to the squad, given that a new centre-back arriving before the deadline on 5 October is unlikely.

It isn’t a long-term solution by any means, but in the absence of a proper fix, the type of which requires the kind of speed and efficient skill in the transfer market United lack, the club ought to look again at a player already under their nose.

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