Tottenham Hotspur linked with AS Roma’s Chris Smalling
Calciomercato‘s Enrico Camelio (h/t Express) has reported that there is a new player on Tottenham Hotspur’s radar. Spurs are now looking at Chris Smalling from AS Roma. The report suggests that there is still a huge gap between Atalanta’s demands for Cristian Romero and what Spurs are offering. Hence, the club have ‘cooled’ their interest in Romero and Smalling’s name has arisen. Atalanta’s £46million valuation is still not met by the North London club.
Why would Tottenham Hotspur consider Chris Smalling?
Smalling was on Manchester United’s books between 2010-2020. A considerable amount of experience in the Premier League, at one of the top clubs in the world, could be a factor looked at by Spurs. Before that, Smalling also had a two-season spell at Fulham.
Another factor for Tottenham to consider in any possible deal is former manager Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese was appointed the AS Roma manager this summer after being sacked by Spurs earlier this year. Smalling and Mourinho have a forgettable history. During their time at Manchester United Smalling was one of the players Mourinho did not shy away from when criticising.
According to Tribuna Expresso (h/t Mirror), the manager jokingly said in an interview after United’s Europa League final win over Ajax that he cannot count on Smalling when playing out from the back.
“I even joked with Smalling – ‘With your feet, we’re for sure not playing out from the back! That’s where we won the game.”
The former Maidstone defender is not getting any younger and would be 32 by the end of this year. But he has still been one of Roma’s trusted starters whenever he hasn’t been having fitness issues.
More Tottenham Hotspur News
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Coming into the transfer market, Smalling might not have been the number one target for Fabio Paratici considering the interest in him seems new. However, taking the above factors into account, the 31-year-old could certainly be worth the gamble.
