Once again showing why AS Roma decided to loan him from Manchester United on Sunday with a good performance against Lecce, Chris Smalling and his future are the talk of the town.
Admittedly, the article from Corriere dello Sport came on Sunday before the match, but it shows how eager everyone is for him to stay, even if they know it’s unlikely.
What once was a confident string of articles is now a series of reports shrouded in doubt, as Roma sit outside the top four in danger of not qualifying for the Champions League.
It’s still very doable, but as they are currently fifth, three points behind Atalanta who have a game in hand, slip ups are no longer allowed for a club who have had many throughout the current campaign.
With that in mind, Corriere explain the player is ‘waiting’ regarding his future, ‘but knows he will probably return to England’.
Down their end, Roma have ‘heavy heartedly’ accepted the possibility of losing Smalling, as it’s almost ‘obligatory’ he leaves to construct the new project full of young players, since they won’t invest ‘high numbers’ in players above the age of 30 (such as the €20m fee requested by Manchester United for the defender and his €3m/year wages after tax).
Things could change if Roma do qualify for the Champions League, but it seems they are currently operating as if they will miss out.
That means Henrikh Mkhitaryan will also likely return to Arsenal, as will Nikola Kalinić to Atlético Madrid.
Not exactly the dream ending, but perhaps Smalling will have done enough to convince Solskjaer he deserves a place at Old Trafford next season.
You can already hear those dreaded words coming from Ed Woodward’s mouth: “He’s just like a new signing”.
