West Brom to bid for Manchester United defender

Chris Smalling’s time at Manchester United could be coming to an end after West Brom have been linked with a move for the English defender.

Chris Smalling’s time at Manchester United may be coming to an end with the Manchester United defender being linked with a move to West Brom for 10 million pounds. Smalling has found himself falling down the pecking order at United since the arrival of Jose Mourinho as manager after failing to live up to expectations that he himself set with a dreadful season.

Smalling had been behind Eric Bailly, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo last season for the starting positions and despite Marcos Rojo being injured for the remainder of 2017, the arrival of Victor Lindelof should see Smalling struggling to get more minutes last season with Jones and Lindelof competing for the one other starting position to go alongside with Bailly.

Originally brought in by Sir Alex Ferguson from Fulham with the idea of him and Phil Jones being the eventual replacements for Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, Smalling has so far failed to live up to expectations with a very inconsistent career at Old Trafford.

Smalling’s time at United did seem to be over in 2014 when he found himself sent off against Manchester City in the first half but an impressive turnaround in the second half of the 2014/15 season under Louis Van Gaal which carried into the following season seen Smalling finally become the defender many expected him to be – becoming one of the better defenders in the league and scooping up the Manchester United’s Players Player of the year for the 2015/16 season.

But, that impressive eighteen months has been pretty much it for Smalling. In Van Gaal’s system, which heavily relied on keeping the ball in a defensive manner which also relied on man-marking in a high line, he was able to thrive but under Mourinho, this has not been the case at all for him in a much different defensive system.

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It would be in Smalling’s best interests to consider a move away from United, he is not going to get many minutes as a first team player barring a number of defensive injuries and his place for the England squad next summer would be seriously under threat if he was to stay at United.

10 Million is a very low bid for Smalling however, while he might not be a starter nor will he be a regular feature in the team, it would appear that the days of United selling players for a cut-short price are over and West Brom will have had to have learned from their failure to capture Morgan Schneiderlin in January that they will have to bid higher for United players, even if they are on the fringe side.

Chris Smalling would be a good signing for a club like West Brom, where he could partner up with his former United team-mate Johnny Evans and he would not be under the same scrutiny or pressure that he would be currently be finding himself at United, where every mistake or blunder will be picked up by the media like a hawk. West Brom themselves also need more players as they will be looking to finish in the top half of the table once again under Tony Pulis and Smalling is more than good enough for a mid-table team that will not be looking to challenge for a top four position or for the league.

Again, it is hard to imagine that United will accept a 10 million pound fee for Smalling but West Brom’s interest in him could signal a way out for Smalling, especially considering how far down the pecking order he is at the club. A higher bid may have to be done for United to accept but it doesn’t too far out there to believe that Chris Smalling could end up playing in a West Brom shirt next season.

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