{"id":567850,"date":"2020-10-01T07:54:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T11:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=567850"},"modified":"2020-10-01T07:55:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T11:55:23","slug":"report-roma-close-to-permanent-deal-for-chris-smalling-from-manchester-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/10\/01\/report-roma-close-to-permanent-deal-for-chris-smalling-from-manchester-united\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Roma Close to Permanent Deal for Chris Smalling From Manchester United"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/David_Ornstein\/status\/1311588127140700160\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Ornstein<\/a>, Roma are close to a permanent deal for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/manchester-united\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester United<\/a> centre-back <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/b6964eb6\/Chris-Smalling?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Smalling<\/a>. After positive discussions on Wednesday between the two sides, the move looks all set to take place.<\/p>\n<h2>Roma Close to Permanent Deal for <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/b6964eb6\/Chris-Smalling?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Smalling<\/a><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Roma closing in on permanent signing of Chris Smalling from Man Utd. Significant progress Weds &#8211; final details need sorting. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MUFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MUFC<\/a> prioritising right winger, left-back process ongoing + a striker may sign if right chance arises @TheAthleticUK <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MUFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MUFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ASRoma?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ASRoma<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DkgS6xK5Nr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/DkgS6xK5Nr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/David_Ornstein\/status\/1311588127140700160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 1, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>A Long Drawn Transfer Saga<\/h3>\n<p>Roma seem very close to completing the permanent deal for Chris Smalling. The 30-year-old spent last season on loan at the Italian capital. He impressed the Roma manager Paulo Fonseca and was a fixture in the starting 11. Smalling made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.com\/chris-smalling\/leistungsdatenverein\/spieler\/103427\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">37 appearances<\/a> in total for the Giallorossi last season. Fonseca has been pushing the Roma management to bring him back and it looks like the Portuguese manager will finally get his man.<\/p>\n<p>The transfer has looked likely to happen for a long time. However, various reasons have prevented the deal from happening so far. Smalling wanted to go back to Roma, Manchester United also wanted to sell and Roma also wanted to buy. The Roma fans also loved Smalling and wanted him back as soon as possible. However, an agreement still could not be reached. The Friedkin group only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/chloeberesford\/2020\/08\/18\/friedkin-group-james-pallotta-as-roma-takeover\/#11c9ffae6883\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recently completed the takeover<\/a> of Roma. The Italian club has been going through a lot of changes which probably hampered this deal. In the end, a win-win situation for all sides looks to have been reached eventually.<\/p>\n<h3>Manchester United Keen to Offload<\/h3>\n<p>Manchester United currently have a lot of options at centre-back. <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/65cb97b8\/Ole-Gunnar-Solskjaer?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ole Gunnar Solskjaer<\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/d8931174\/Harry-Maguire?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Harry Maguire<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/f5deef4c\/Victor-Lindelof?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Lindelof<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/a1232f4e\/Eric-Bailly?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eric Bailly<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/def899bd\/Phil-Jones?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Phil Jones<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/e0991c04\/Marcos-Rojo?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcos Rojo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/a9142dc3\/Timothy-Fosu-Mensah?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Timothy Fosu-Mensah<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/91748070\/Teden-Mengi?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teden Mengi<\/a> in that position. Hence, their eagerness to sell has always been there. They were just waiting for Roma to make an acceptable offer. Looks like that has finally happened. Now, Manchester United can possibly reinvest the funds in their pursuits for players in other positions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"a4HamW7FTsZm-TwhbCSvWA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1227877743\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'a4HamW7FTsZm-TwhbCSvWA',sig:'MBOZfXailJf5SJ-bcWUIHcIQfbV4EBI6pba1y820HR0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1227877743',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to\u00a0David Ornstein, Roma are close to a permanent deal for Manchester United centre-back Chris Smalling. After positive discussions on Wednesday between the two sides, the move looks all set to take place. Roma Close to Permanent Deal for Chris Smalling Roma closing in on permanent signing of Chris Smalling from Man Utd. Significant progress [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2794,"featured_media":567862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2,30,3,5,28],"tags":[718,1301,36,40,48,136],"class_list":["post-567850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-featured","category-news","category-premier-league","category-serie-a","category-transfers","tag-chris-smalling","tag-football-transfers","tag-manchester-united","tag-premier-league","tag-serie-a","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}