It seems that until Chris Smalling finds himself a new club or publicly says he’ll be staying at Manchester United next season, the saga surrounding his future will continue.
Back in England after his loan with AS Roma came to an end just before the Europa League, the centre-back is currently waiting to see what happens.
Manchester United would ideally like to sell him for a price of €20m+, but, as Gazzetta dello Sport point out on Monday, they are ‘slowly but surely’ realising that €20m + €5m in bonuses is ‘in reality’ a fee ‘difficult to bring in’.
That’s because few are willing to pay that much, much like AS Roma were, which opens the door for some negotiations in the near future.
Gazzetta point out United could go talk to Smalling, and potentially the Serie A club as well, because the defender ‘has already made his choice’, which is to return to Rome ‘quickly’.
He’s even prepared to sacrifice some more money to do so, and with all that in mind, Roma, fresh from their takeover, ‘will return to the fore with the Red Devils and this time are convinced to make it’.
They might do so with another ‘paid loan with a mandatory option to buy in 2021’, but it all depends whether or not a richer club, perhaps like Inter, come knocking beforehand with more money to please Ed Woodward.
The clock may have already started ticking for Dan Friedkin and co.
