Mourinho, Ferguson & search for new club - what next for Smalling?
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- Chris Smalling has logged 580 club appearances in three countries and 31 England caps, with the bulk of his playing time under Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho at Manchester United and Roma, plus a Champions League final.
- Smalling was ever-present for Al-Fayha in the Saudi Pro-League last season and is now back in the north west of England evaluating his next club, telling the BBC his body at 36 is in better shape than at 26.
- Roy Hodgson triggered Smalling's rise by signing him from non-league Maidstone to Fulham, then pulling him off the team coach at a Blackburn away day in January 2010 to tell him Manchester United had accepted a bid — Ferguson arrived at the team hotel 45 minutes later and signed him on the spot.
- Smalling is laying groundwork for life after playing, partnering with the Global Institute of Sport on an education programme for young players and running three or four similar projects, though he says coaching is not his intended route.
- Mourinho publicly criticised Smalling in November 2016 over an unwillingness to play through a broken toe, but Smalling pushed back on the narrative, saying the Portuguese picked him for most games at both United and Roma and the demand came from trust, not a fractured relationship.
- Smalling supplements the blood tests clubs run in pre-season with his own genetics testing, which he said changed most of his supplements, and credits the regimen with extending his career into his mid-30s.
Why it matters: For clubs weighing a signing, Smalling offers a rare 36-year-old profile — 580 appearances, three-country CV, Champions League-final pedigree and an ever-present Saudi Pro-League season behind him — while the education projects with the Global Institute of Sport show he is already building a post-playing identity rather than eyeing the dugout.
