Chris Smalling Says He Can 'See a Longer-Term Future in Italy' After Roma Loan

Chris Smalling has said he "can definitely see a longer-term future in Italy" after joining Roma on a one-year loan deal from Manchester United.

Smalling has been at United since 2010 and has been a first-team regular for most of that time:

However, he was allowed to join Roma after the summer arrival of Harry Maguire from Leicester City for £80 million.

The Englishman and Victor Lindelof have already been established as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first-choice centre-back pairing early in the 2019-20 season.

With Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Axel Tuanzebe also in the squad, Smalling would likely have seen his game time limited this term had he stayed at Old Trafford.

That could well still be the case when the 29-year-old's loan spell at Roma comes to an end next summer, and Smalling would be open to a longer stay in Italy, per Dan Sansom of Sky Sports:

"This is an opportunity that came to me that I was very interested in, and I was very eager to come. It happened very quickly and now I focus on the next game, getting up to speed with training in terms of the manager's methods and then hopefully have a very good season.

"To be able to have the chance at a big club, and then if it prolongs and the club is happy then I can definitely see a longer-term future in Italy."

United moved on a number of members of their first-team squad in the summer transfer window, with Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Matteo Darmian also moving to Italy:

Solskjaer has a big job on his hands to rebuild United into a title-challenging squad, and all three of the key players he brought in over the summer have impressed early in the new campaign.

But United have been left short in midfield after their summer business, and after a brilliant 4-0 victory over Chelsea to open the new Premier League campaign, the Red Devils have lost to Crystal Palace and drawn with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton.

As a result, they have already fallen behind the furious pace set by Liverpool and Manchester City, the two sides likely to be the only realistic title challengers again this term:

United do not look to have the squad to be able to challenge at the top of the table, but they may have the quality to break back into the top four after finishing sixth last season.