Chris Smalling has been at Manchester United for around 8 years now. The defender joined the Red Devils from Fulham in 2010, and has gone on to make a total of 195 appearances for the club. He was a part of the Manchester United team, who won the Premier League title in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge of the club.
He has endured life after Ferguson and won the Europa League and the League Cup with Jose Mourinho in the 2016/17 campaign. Smalling was also a regular in Mourinho’s team last season, making 29 appearances and scoring 4 goals.
But recent reports have suggested that Mourinho is aiming to bring in Tottenham centre-back Toby Alderweireld to Old Trafford. The Belgian will reportedly cost around £55m, and in order to free up some funds for the Belgian, Mourinho is going to have to offload one of his own defenders.
With Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly having arrived at the club recently, Smalling could be the one to be sold by Manchester United.
Due to this dilemma, West Ham are reportedly monitoring Smalling’s situation at Old Trafford. New Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini is said to be given a £70m budget to spend over the summer, and the Chilean could be aiming to capitalise on Smalling’s situation at Manchester United and go for the player.
West Ham leaked goals from all sides last season, and the addition of a new centre-back would only benefit the team. Along with Stoke City, West Ham conceded a joint highest 68 goals in the league in the 2017/18 campaign. The Hammers need to bolster their defensive ranks in the summer and Smalling could be an option.
At the age of 28, the former Fulham defender is still at the peak of his playing days. He certainly possesses the qualities to play in the Premier League. Along with Angelo Ogbonna, Smalling could form a formidable partnership at the heart of the defence at the London Stadium.
He averaged 1.4 tackles and 2.2 interceptions per match last season. The defender is calm on the ball and also possesses immense pace for a defender. Smalling is also very powerful in the air, with the defender scoring most of his goals from set-pieces. He boasts an average of 5.5 clearances per game, which shows his ability as a defender.
Pellegrini could certainly use a defender such as Smalling. The Englishman would surely help stiffen up that leaky back line at West Ham. Making the move from Manchester United to West Ham may be a level down for Smalling but the Hammers will offer him more game time, and that is what will be of utmost importance to the defender at this time.
