NFR Chris Smalling

[HatterDon]

This is kind of funny. I remember when SAF bought him the overwhelming consensus was that he was stupid to pay good money for what would only be a so-so player. Now that he's gone and proved himself at United and for England, everyone is saying that they thought he'd be much better than he is.

Yep, kind of funny.

We paid £10,000 up front and another £10,000 as a result of the thirteen league appearances he made. Hardly a King's ransom, even for a "so-so" player.

I can't speak for anyone back then - wasn't here - but I don't think he's proven himself at the top level. He's an inconsistent, bit part player and probably not yet at the level either club or country would've hoped he would reach..

uh, SAF is Sir Alex Ferguson  fp.gif

[EJL]

This is kind of funny. I remember when SAF bought him the overwhelming consensus was that he was stupid to pay good money for what would only be a so-so player. Now that he's gone and proved himself at United and for England, everyone is saying that they thought he'd be much better than he is.

Yep, kind of funny.

He has absolutely not proven himself at either domestic level with United or international level. On paper, sure, but for the most part he's filled in at right-back for both teams (usually poorly), or not done well enough, for long enough, to permanently displace Ferdinand/Vidic/Evans/Jones, even during one of United's poorest spells in their entire history. Once Louis van Gaal signs another central defender in January (or the summer) he'll be out of the starting XI and we'll be looking at Rafael - new CB - Rojo - Shaw.

For the record, at one point I did agree with a comment you made about Smalling going on to record 100 caps for England and be a mainstay in United's first team for the foreseeable future, but, at 25 -- and considering the money van Gaal and Woodward have spent -- I don't think he'll reach that level of individual success.

[FFC1987]

He played well against Scotland I thought.

[MJG]

The thing that really irritates about smalling is how he passess a simple ball. Watch him next time,  he seems to have to open up his whole body to make a simple five yard pass to the other CB. Trap ball.... Turn body sideways, put arms out wide.... Make exaggerated gesture when passing ball with a side foot.
He does so slowly as well.

[Beamer]

Must agree that he hasn't really reached the heights that SAF was probably hoping for when they bought him but some of the criticisms seem a bit harsh - he certainly isn't a bad player. I don't think that a certain proneness to injury has helped him either and some of that may have been due to not having been strong enough physically to cope with what he was doing to his body whilst still maturing. Steve Gerrard was a classic example of this and in his younger days was carefully handled by Liverpool but was still regularly unavailable through injury.
Time will tell if he matures into a really quality player but a 25 (next week) the next season or so is vital for him. Gary Cahill looked a fairly average decent player until his last year at Bolton but matured into one of the most consistent CBs for club and country, so we will wait and see.
Certainly getting the kind of money we took at the time looks good business but just suppose that he had stayed and kept us in the Prem would we feel the same. There is no definitive answer.
Good luck to the lad as it would be good for England should he step up to another level.