James Ducker: United prepared to listen to offers for Smalling

Unless we are getting something in the range of 20 million, it will actually be a very stupid decision to sell him.

1. He would improve most PL teams.
2. We have so many defensive injuries in the recent years, keeping him would not be a bad idea. He is not on huge wages as well.
3. His sale value doesn't decrease next year too. He is good, not too old and English. That is more than enough in this league. We can always cash in next season.
4. Most important as has been pointed out, not too long ago, he was our best defender. We used to be in scrambles without him.

The ideal scenario would be, if Arsenal want him and if we can throw the cash for Sanchez in exchange considering he wants to leave. Wenger did want Smalling back when Fergie got him.
 
idmanager said:
Unless we are getting something in the range of 20 million, it will actually be a very stupid decision to sell him.

1. He would improve most PL teams.
2. We have so many defensive injuries in the recent years, keeping him would not be a bad idea. He is not on huge wages as well.
3. His sale value doesn't decrease next year too. He is good, not too old and English. That is more than enough in this league. We can always cash in next season.
4. Most important as has been pointed out, not too long ago, he was our best defender. We used to be in scrambles without him.

The ideal scenario would be, if Arsenal want him and if we can throw the cash for Sanchez in exchange considering he wants to leave. Wenger did want Smalling back when Fergie got him.
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Exactly. Should not be sold at all. He is the only one that is a credible backup for bailly and could still get games in good amount in rotation. Which also keeps the players fresh for crucial games. Jones can not be relied upon any time of the season.He's a wreck and Rojo is injured atleast until sept and will need time to get back to his levels, While lindelof needs settling period. Smalling would still get good amount of games to have a shot at the world cup. And he should count on that.

Not the time to sell Smalling ,We dont need the money. Also to sell him to arsenal would be even worse if we wont get anything in return.
 
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In a world where VVD is a £50m defender, and Pickford is being signed for £30m, then Smalling is worth at least £30m all day long. We can all talk about his flaws but he's captained United and he would improve most PL teams. United always have to pay 'English tax', so the same should apply to all clubs. I'd be asking for £35+m but if I had a choice, I'd keep him for a very solid backup.
 
I don't see any incentive for us to sell him now, especially for 15 million.

If we sell Smalling we would have Rojo, Jones and Blind as backups for Lindelof and Bailly.

Jones can't be trusted at all, Rojo is out until Christmas and I don't rate Blind at all as a centre back. This leaves us very vulnerable. If we bought one more defender it would make more sense.

The 15 million touted is absolutely ridiculously low in this market. He should be sold for 25 million minimum. He is English, at the right age, PL proven and will strengthen most teams around us in the league.
 
My biggest gripe with him, is that he remains an abomination on the ball, despite being at this club for 7 years.
 
Adisa said:
My biggest gripe with him, is that he remains an abomination on the ball, despite being at this club for 7 years.
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Agree. Although Smalling can be a good backup option this season, Mourinho is looking long term and trying to offload players who aren't part of his plan.
He would rather give chance to Blind or Jones and Rojo when he has chance.

If Smalling is not part of his long term plan, every minute he plays is experience loss for other players.
 
Without Smalling, our centre backs are not that tall. Bailly and Lindelöf are both 1.87m and Blind and Jones are smaller still. Smalling is 1.94 or so and has a much greater aerial presence than Bailly and Jones. I don't know about Lindelöf. I would not like it if we had to continue playing Fellaini because our centre backs lack height.
 
we sold Memphhs for about 17m pounds. No way will we sign off on Jones/Smalling being sold for less than 30m. Both have long contracts, are English and are internationals.
 
Without Smalling we'll be fine - a better team. Sorry, but he is not a footballer, more a typical English defender but one who lacks the finesse and athleticism to cover up his flaws. Good luck to him but we will be moving in the right direction if we move him on.
 
If we are selling Smalling then we have to add another CB.
 
Jonno said:
I reckon I could slot in to a LVG side and give good performances.

Two holding midfielders would sit in front of our two centre backs, often playing against 1 striker. We would strangle the game with slow, sideways possession football.

Our centre backs had it pretty easy. Hence Smalling appeared to look pretty good.
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Evans still managed to look bad in an lvg defense and Chelsea played with two defensive midfielders but I bet you would want Luiz and Cahill in our team
 
Have always preferred Jones anyway. Jones is just a more natural defender, Smalling has the pace to make up for making a balls up or catch someone. Watched Jones last night and thought he was hands down the best of the back 3. Not saying much as Cahill and Stones had their ankles snapped by mbappe and dembele a few times :lol:
 
Are West Ham serious with a bid of 10 million?Package him up with Jones and unload the pair to Wenger in exchange for Sanchez plus cash
 
Dans said:
Without Smalling we'll be fine - a better team. Sorry, but he is not a footballer, more a typical English defender but one who lacks the finesse and athleticism to cover up his flaws. Good luck to him but we will be moving in the right direction if we move him on.
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Lacks the athleticism to cover his flaws? You are trolling right?
 
Ridiculous really. Our best defender in the EL final and showed his worth, but because he's a bit uncomfortable on the ball he has to be sold.

It's obviously more of a personal issue with Mourinho IMO.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Ridiculous really. Our best defender in the EL final and showed his worth, but because he's a bit uncomfortable on the ball he has to be sold.

It's obviously more of a personal issue with Mourinho IMO.
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He's not good enough to be main cb issue or no issue.

Do you see any top teams bidding for him?

Let me take a wild guess, he'll be off to midtable teams and vanish into obscurity like jonny evans.
 
idmanager said:
Unless we are getting something in the range of 20 million, it will actually be a very stupid decision to sell him.

1. He would improve most PL teams.
Apart from top 6 teams
2. We have so many defensive injuries in the recent years, keeping him would not be a bad idea. He is not on huge wages as well.
Yup. We have. Guess the main culprit. Smailing and Jones
3. His sale value doesn't decrease next year too. He is good, not too old and English. That is more than enough in this league. We can always cash in next season.
Is that what we aspire? Good and not too old?
4. Most important as has been pointed out, not too long ago, he was our best defender. We used to be in scrambles without him.
Baily was our best defender. Smailing is second be cause we have no one else. Put him alongside top 4 european team and he'll be out of competition

The ideal scenario would be, if Arsenal want him and if we can throw the cash for Sanchez in exchange considering he wants to leave. Wenger did want Smalling back when Fergie got him.
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If he's that good we'd be having proper bids lined up
 
Smalling or Jones are 4th/5th choice defender now.

If we get 20m offer we'd be stupid not to take it.

Lindeloff, Bailly, Rojo, Smalling/Jones. That's not even taking into account we'd have more than enough depth with the likes of Blind and Tuanzebe who can cover.

Unless we go into the season planning on playing a variation of 3 at the back, we don't need so many CB's.
 
flappyjay said:
Lacks the athleticism to cover his flaws? You are trolling right?
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You rate him - I never have. Why does a difference of opinion equal trolling? He's never looked comfortable on the ball and looks like he has two left feet.
 
Dans said:
You rate him - I never have. Why does a difference of opinion equal trolling? He's never looked comfortable on the ball and looks like he has two left feet.
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The fact that you questioned his athleticism is the funny part for me not whether you rate him or not
 
Lindelof and Bailly are good young defenders but they do lack experience and might struggle in air. These 'deficits' wont be sorted by Blind and Rojo. Jones on the other hand is unreliable and he's hardly a leader himself. Unless we add an experienced CB who can lead the back in times of need then selling Smalling will be a mistake.
 
Bwuk said:
Smalling or Jones are 4th/5th choice defender now.

If we get 20m offer we'd be stupid not to take it.

Lindeloff, Bailly, Rojo, Smalling/Jones. That's not even taking into account we'd have more than enough depth with the likes of Blind and Tuanzebe who can cover.

Unless we go into the season planning on playing a variation of 3 at the back, we don't need so many CB's.
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Why? Who said thaT? Smalling was LVG's best CB. Why should he be considered 4th choice behind the likes of Blind or Rojo who hardly had more then 3-4 months of decent football with us?

I lost count of how many times I criticised Smalling here but let him fight for his place. He deserve an equal shot like all the rest. If we've got to sell somebody than that would be Jones. His injury record is embarassing.
 
devilish said:
Why? Who said thaT? Smalling was LVG's best CB. Why should he be considered 4th choice behind the likes of Blind or Rojo who hardly had more then 3-4 months of decent football with us?

I lost count of how many times I criticised Smalling here but let him fight for his place. He deserve an equal shot like all the rest. If we've got to sell somebody than that would be Jones. His injury record is embarassing.
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LvG isn't here anymore. Our best run of form this season clearly came when Rojo was in the side. Mourinho loves Bailly, and we wouldn't be signing Lindelof to be 4th choice.

Smalling or Jones will go. If we are getting 20m for one of them we'd be stupid not to take it.
 
flappyjay said:
The fact that you questioned his athleticism is the funny part for me not whether you rate him or not
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Perhaps athleticism is the wrong word - what I mean is that he is awkward and clumsy looking and doesn't leave me with the impression of a player with good coordination, something most sportsmen in football, cricket, rugby etc, should have in abundance.
 
Bwuk said:
Smalling or Jones are 4th/5th choice defender now.

If we get 20m offer we'd be stupid not to take it.

Lindeloff, Bailly, Rojo, Smalling/Jones. That's not even taking into account we'd have more than enough depth with the likes of Blind and Tuanzebe who can cover.

Unless we go into the season planning on playing a variation of 3 at the back, we don't need so many CB's.
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When is Rojo penned in to be back from injury though? near the start of the season or around december like Zlatan? Jones is also liable to be injured at any time too,
If we sell Smalling we could enter the season with just Lindelof and Baily fit annnd.. it doesnt look like Mourinho overly trusts Blind there either.
 
Bwuk said:
LvG isn't here anymore. Our best run of form this season clearly came when Rojo was in the side. Mourinho loves Bailly, and we wouldn't be signing Lindelof to be 4th choice.

Smalling or Jones will go. If we are getting 20m for one of them we'd be stupid not to take it.
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No one is saying Lindelof would be no 4. All I am saying is that Smalling is experienced, he's great in aerial duels something both Lindelof and Bailly do struggle sometimes in and throughout his United career he's been more consistent than the Argentinian Silvestre has been.

And 20m is chicken feed for United. Lets get rid of the one who barely ever bother make himself available to the team instead. Alternatively let sell them all (Rojo, Smalling and Jones) and add 1-2 CBs who would give us the characteristics we'll miss (and more) if Smalling leaves.
 
IrishRedDevil said:
In a world where VVD is a £50m defender, and Pickford is being signed for £30m, then Smalling is worth at least £30m all day long. We can all talk about his flaws but he's captained United and he would improve most PL teams. United always have to pay 'English tax', so the same should apply to all clubs. I'd be asking for £35+m but if I had a choice, I'd keep him for a very solid backup.
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Exactly this. I'm all for selling him, but only for a tidy fee, otherwise he might as well stay. In this transfer market Pickford who has 1 season in the prem under his belt, has just been bought for 30 mills from a championship team. Worth £30 mills all day long in this market.
 
IrishRedDevil said:
In a world where VVD is a £50m defender, and Pickford is being signed for £30m, then Smalling is worth at least £30m all day long. We can all talk about his flaws but he's captained United and he would improve most PL teams. United always have to pay 'English tax', so the same should apply to all clubs. I'd be asking for £35+m but if I had a choice, I'd keep him for a very solid backup.
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Agreed. In this market 30-40 would be reasonable. Guess that we are trying to sell him is reducing his price.
 
devilish said:
No one is saying Lindelof would be no 4. All I am saying is that Smalling is experienced, he's great in aerial duels something both Lindelof and Bailly do struggle sometimes in and throughout his United career he's been more consistent than the Argentinian Silvestre has been.

And 20m is chicken feed for United. Lets get rid of the one who barely ever bother make himself available to the team instead. Alternatively let sell them all (Rojo, Smalling and Jones) and add 1-2 CBs who would give us the characteristics we'll miss (and more) if Smalling leaves.
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The most consistent thing about Smalling has been recurrent injuries. Performance-wise he's the most inconsistent defender on our books.
 
Dans said:
Without Smalling we'll be fine - a better team. Sorry, but he is not a footballer, more a typical English defender but one who lacks the finesse and athleticism to cover up his flaws. Good luck to him but we will be moving in the right direction if we move him on.
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Sorry but he lacks athleticism :lol:
So much tosh on a single thread. Complete lies trying to pass for truth. He's fast as hell, great in the air and physically dominates a lot of opponents. To say he lacks athleticism is a joke.
Not the greatest on the ball, needs a leader alongside him yes, but really.
 
devilish said:
No one is saying Lindelof would be no 4. All I am saying is that Smalling is experienced, he's great in aerial duels something both Lindelof and Bailly do struggle sometimes in and throughout his United career he's been more consistent than the Argentinian Silvestre has been.

And 20m is chicken feed for United. Lets get rid of the one who barely ever bother make himself available to the team instead. Alternatively let sell them all (Rojo, Smalling and Jones) and add 1-2 CBs who would give us the characteristics we'll miss (and more) if Smalling leaves.
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Should not sell him at all , he can still get games. He had a bad season but worth keeping him still.
 
Bwuk said:
LvG isn't here anymore. Our best run of form this season clearly came when Rojo was in the side. Mourinho loves Bailly, and we wouldn't be signing Lindelof to be 4th choice.

Smalling or Jones will go. If we are getting 20m for one of them we'd be stupid not to take it.
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No transfer is a sure thing, what happens if it takes Lidelof a season to adapt . What happens then? Wait for Rojo to get fit, will he come back the same? Jones/Smalling should be kept atleast until January
 
Keep him as it will be a lon season with plenty of games to go around this time. He is one of the more experienced defenders in the team. Lindelof will be new addition and we arenot sure whether he will hit the ground running a'la Bailly or take his time to adjust like Vida. Not to mention Rojo will be out for a long time. I think unless someone like Tuanzebe starts producing steady performances, or more experienced defenders like Pepe or Bonucci is brought in, Smalling will remain at the club for now.
 
Red_toad said:
Sorry but he lacks athleticism :lol:
So much tosh on a single thread. Complete lies trying to pass for truth. He's fast as hell, great in the air and physically dominates a lot of opponents. To say he lacks athleticism is a joke.
Not the greatest on the ball, needs a leader alongside him yes, but really.
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So why do you think it is that he might be being sold?
 
Lemansky said:
I don't see any incentive for us to sell him now, especially for 15 million.

If we sell Smalling we would have Rojo, Jones and Blind as backups for Lindelof and Bailly.

Jones can't be trusted at all, Rojo is out until Christmas and I don't rate Blind at all as a centre back. This leaves us very vulnerable. If we bought one more defender it would make more sense.

The 15 million touted is absolutely ridiculously low in this market. He should be sold for 25 million minimum. He is English, at the right age, PL proven and will strengthen most teams around us in the league.
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This is how i see it also, if we are selling Smalling then we need to bring someone else in.

Rojo probably is out until Xmas at least, Jones will no doubt injure himself again and miss a lot of games before Xmas. And Blind shouldn't even be considered as an option at CB.

So we will be relying on a young defender in Baily and another in Lindeof in his first season in England to both stay fit and hit the ground running, seems risky to me.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The most consistent thing about Smalling has been recurrent injuries. Performance-wise he's the most inconsistent defender on our books.
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I disagree. Jeez Im the last person on earth that should be defending Smalling, there again, some people seem to have short memories indeed.
 
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