It was clear that Chris Smalling had to leave Old Trafford last summer, but most fans may have expected him to stay in the Premier League.
In the end he made the surprise move to Roma, and it sounds like he’s done well. Clearly he’s not excelled to the point that Man United want to take him back, but reports indicate that Roma do want to keep him.
Football365 looked at the latest with his situation, and it appears the main stumbling block will be deciding on the type of deal.
They quote La Gazzetta dello Sport in saying that United are now open to accepting another loan deal, which would feature a fee of around €4m.
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Football Italia also picked up on this, and they suggest that previous talks about a permanent deal were dragging on, so this could be the ideal compromise.
It will be interesting to see what the long term future holds for him – they indicate that his deal at Old Trafford runs until 2022, but his sell-on value will go down each year as he gets older and his contract gets shorter.
That suggests Man United might be wise to insist that Roma agree to sign him him permanently at the end of next season to ensure they get some value.