There’s a belief Friday could be the day Chris Smalling is set free from his Manchester United shackles and allowed to return to AS Roma.
Once described by Gazzetta dello Sport as some sort of hostage, the England international has been patiently waiting for a chance to go back to Italy, where he enjoyed himself on loan at Roma last season.
Despite advances from Inter, it appears to be his former club who could walk away with his services, with pretty much every newspaper agreeing something could be done by the end of Friday.
We’ll start with the aforementioned Gazzetta, who write ‘today could be the day United give him the green light to the return for a fee of around €15m + bonuses’.
This is corroborated by Corriere dello Sport, who go as far as saying ‘it is now a matter of hours’, having ‘practically closed the deal with Manchester United thanks to the London blitz on Thursday, signed off by Guido Fienga and Manolo Zubiria’.
There are still ‘some pieces missing’ to get the deal over the line, as the two clubs are working ‘to include another player, who would travel to Rome like Smalling’.
Those are either Diogo Dalot or Timothy Fosu-Mensah, but either way, the former Fulham starlet is ‘ready to fulfil his wish, which is to return to the magnificent villa on the Appia Antica that he rented last year’.
As for Inter in all this, they ‘withdrew from the race when they realised Chris would only move from England for Roma’.
Corriere Roma also have a bit on the situation, claiming the deal is in its final ‘details’, with the intermediary, Jozo Palac, landing in Rome on Thursday to meet with James Featherstone, Smalling’s agent.
For them, the player is ‘awaited in Rome in the next few hours to sign his contract’.
They might be getting a bit ahead of themselves, however, as Il Tempo reckon there’s still a meeting to take place today between Palac and the Serie A club on Friday to finalise the last few details, which has since been confirmed by Gianluca di Marzio, who is reporting said summit started at 11am local time (10am UK time), with photos to prove it.
That’s the latest on Smalling, with everyone agreeing the fee for the definitive transfer should be around €15m, with some claiming bonuses will be added onto that and others stating the €15m includes the extras.
Either way, Manchester United look set to finally record the sale of the player, having faffed around for a good three months hoping to get extra money that never arrived.
Another Ed Woodward masterclass, it seems.
