Portuguese newspaper A Bola at the weekend featured an interview with AS Roma manager Paulo Fonseca.
The long chat with the 47-year-old coach has been about his entire career, especially the years he’s been abroad, working in Ukraine and Italy.
But it turns out a part of the conversation which is highlighted by the newspaper is about Manchester United loanee Chris Smalling.
A Bola asked Fonseca about the defender’s current loan spell at the Serie A side, and the manager could only praise the English defender.
“He surprised me. How would a defender who had never left England adapt to Italy? He came to a demanding league from a tactical point of view, where one detail makes the difference,” Paulo Fonseca told A Bola.
“Chris adapted quickly. He’s an extraordinary person, very intelligent. He has characteristics that I really appreciate in defenders. He’s fast and almost unbeatable in one-on-one situations. Then he has the ability to read and anticipate, knows how to read the game and anticipates what will happen. He’s been very important to our team.”
Speaking of Roma’s chances to make the move permanent, Fonseca doesn’t hide his wish to keep Smalling in the squad.
“If we could keep him, it could be important for the future. He’s a great professional and a man I would like to keep.”
Smalling left Manchester United to join Roma on a loan deal last summer, with the Italian side paying €3m for the spell. Reports from Italy have been saying the Serie A club want to make the move permanent, but they seem far from convincing the Red Devils with a decent transfer fee.
