• 20-year-old defender likened to a 'quick Sami
Hyypia'
• 'He's cool, calm and collected' says Fulham team-mate
Chris Smalling will join Manchester United at the
beginning of next season.
If Chris Smalling ever decides to follow up his interest
in studying business management, his future employers at Old
Trafford should provide ideal material for a dissertation. The
20-year-old Fulham
defender, who todayunderwent a medical ahead of his move
to Manchester
United in the summer, was planning to
enrol on a degree course at Loughborough University before the
letter he sent to Fulham requesting a trial took his career down a
different path.
Smalling was playing for Maidstone United in the Isthmian League
at the time, having failed to earn a full-time contract at
Millwall, but his decision to have one last crack at breaking into
the professional game was rewarded when Roy Hodgson
liked what he saw. Eighteen months and 10 appearances for Fulham
later and Smalling is on the verge of completing his journey from
prospective student to central defender for English football's most
famous club.
Remarkably, he has started only two Premier League
games, against Chelsea last month, when he was unfortunate to score
an own goal, and at White Hart Lane on Tuesday, where he enhanced
his burgeoning reputation with an impressive performance despite
Fulham suffering a 2-0 defeat. That display followed the
distraction of reports that United had stolen a march on Arsenal
and agreed to sign a player Hodgson has described as a
"diamond".
Danny Murphy certainly expects Smalling to sparkle at Old
Trafford. "I was fortunate enough to see players like Michael Owen
and Steven Gerrard when they were young lads," the Fulham and
former Liverpool midfielder said. "Being a defender, Chris is
different and he is not quite on their level yet but he is
potentially a wonderful player. He has great pace is calm on the
ball and good in the air. What more do you need from a good
centre-half? He'll be a great asset to his new club and he won't
look out of place.
"He showed against Tottenham and he showed at Chelsea a few
weeks ago that he's very capable already for a 20-year-old. I think
the more you see of him as a player, and you deal with him as a
person, you'll see he's very cool, calm and collected. He's
obviously got a lot going on at the moment and it has been a big
few days for him but he's handled it brilliantly. Considering what
is going on in his life, his performance against Tottenham was very
good."
Smalling would appear to be a future England international in
the making. He has already impressed Stuart Pearce, whose own
career started at non-league level, and made his first start for
the Under-21 side against Portugal in November. "I like what I
see," said Pearce after Smalling's full debut. "He doesn't mind
mixing it. He just needs to learn the game now and the only way you
do that is by playing matches. It's the only thing he's short
of."
He may have to be patient at Old Trafford but spending time on
the sidelines at Manchester United and observing Rio Ferdinand at
close quarters should not be too much of a hardship for a player
who was writing to clubs for trials at the start of last season.
Fulham, to their credit, responded and after Barry Dunne, the
club's youth scout, watched Smalling six times it took just 15
minutes of a reserve match to convince Hodgson to give him a
professional contract.
The four B grade A-levels he picked up at Chatham Grammar School
for Boys are now unlikely to be needed, with the 1.92m (6ft 3in)
defender financially secure for life and tipped to become a star of
the future. "You know when there's a good player coming along,"
added Murphy, who likened Smalling to a "quick Sami Hyypia", the
former Liverpool defender. "I think the only thing that's been a
little bit of a shock is how quickly he's progressed."
