Arsenal are in talks with Fulham for their highly rated England Under 21 centre back Chris Smalling with a view to loaning him back to the Cottagers until the end of the season. SkySports suggests a bid in the region of £7 million will be lodged if they can get the green light from both player and club.
The 6’4 (194cm) defender made his first Premier League start for Fulham since joining from Non-League Maidstone United in 2008 at Stamford Bridge in their final game of 2009. Smalling’s imposing frame and rugged play caught the eye as the Fulham back line kept out Chelsea until John Paintsil was forced off injured. The game was decided by an unlucky own goal from the prospect but many believe he has a bright future in the game.
Already an England Under 21 international, Chris has previously played alongside Kieran Gibbs for his country and he boasts some Europa League experience having featured briefly this term. Arsenal have been keeping tabs on the youngsters development for a number of months but a move will come as a surprise especially after the recent acquisition of Sol Campbell.
More to follow.
Article By – J.Sanderson
whoa £7 million is he better then sendros? haha
What does this mean for Nordtveit?
smalling looked brilliant against chelsea, drogba was quite for most of the match.
good on two counts hes young aggresive 6ft 2″ tall and most of all ENGLISH so that should keep the Arsene does not like English players brigade.
nordvelt has been played as a dM mostly by nuremberg but the new coach played him at right back in the last match.
i think nordvelt will be back up in all three positions next year. nice squad player who is developing and can cover so many positions.
fuck Nordveit
he was the 1 who handed chelsea the win – another senderos/cygan
Yes please
I think i read hes 6ft5.
Nordtveit will take the DM role not the CB role
Are you just repeating the news from Sky or have you got any inside confirmation that the story is true?
Ill see you 6ft5 and raise you to 6ft10 :)
He’ll be 7ft5 by the time .con report it!
he was the 1 who handed chelsea the win – another senderos/cygan
NO said this on January 20, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Stop being stupid.One unlucky own goal does not change the potential and the ability of a defender.
If he can keep Drogba quite then buy him. Its worth 7m even if he only plays against Chelsea. Drogba has got our number.
Any number of four defenders will be gone at the end of the season: Senderos, Gallas, Silly, Campbell, so it looks like Wenger is getting him in as early preparation for next season – foresight from the manager. Although you have to ask if a 20 year old can do a job next season at DC, a position requiring experience?
He handed Chelsea the win ??? Are you stupid, yes he may have been unfortunate enough to deflect the ball into the net, but he kept arguably the best striker in the world very very quiet (you obviously didn’t watch the match). And at 6ft whatever” he is, it would add some inches to our vertically challenged defence. Definitely one for the future and who better to learn around than Sol, Gallas and Mikael.
Hey that smalling that caused their side to loose against chelsea?? Let’s look for a striker first.eduardo is no more a threat to defenders owing to him been out for 52weeks.
Does wenger recalls that winning matches is bench?forget players coming back ,they can be injured again please we need back up to be convinced as title contenders else another trophyless season .kids can’t win trophy be warned
“good on two counts hes young aggresive 6ft 2″ tall and most of all ENGLISH so that should keep the Arsene does not like English players brigade.”
Screw that “brigade”.
He has some really good size. He has performed well at the under 21 lets see if he can do it at the next level. It looks like he is well at Fulham. Smalling might be a good fit later on down the road.
£7m is big money for a player that is so young and inexperienced. weren’t we in for Hangeland for about £8m last year? smalling seems expensive by comparison but he is english after all. I hope we have scouted him properly but given that we are likely to lose at least one of the older CBs in the summer, and probably all 3 within a year after that, then this move makes good sense. Bartley and Nortdveit have some competition.
i don’t beleave this j
the sun sky its all the one
can you say you heard anything yourself
He is expensive cos he is English. Simple as. That is probably why we buy him to.
You pay more for younger players because they tend to improve and could be sold after 10 years service for a profit. Buy an old player for £8m and 3 years down the line he’s worth very little.
this is old news gossip
anything new to add other than sky say
What with silly question about Nordveldt? He has to compete for a place in the lineup. This kid appear to be ready judging by the hard time he gave Drogs and company last time they met. That is just what the “doctor ordered” and more so coz he is English and UEFA rules will soon dictate having majority of home grown players.
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Means both Senderos AND sylvestre out. This has to be good news in itself
Would be a great signing.
Arsene wont sign him,we already have Djorou,Bartlett,Eastmond as cover why do we need more…..
skysports says that fee may rise to 7m depending on appearances, performances etc. Not that the upfront fee is 7m.
He’s too young to be ‘ready’. Consistency at the back is in the 24 plus age bracket, with very few exceptions. Look at Ramsey – a stormer one day, a weak performance, two stormers, two quiet games. Look how quick Traore’s level dropped after the enforced break. He’s a perfect illustration of what we often forget (but Wenger knows) – that young players can have smashing performances but can’t keep it going.
what about Bartley???
Frednigeria, the poor Eduardo as you say just score 3 Goal and have 3 Assist the last few games .So please shut up.How much you re need convincing we are title challenger when tonight we could go first .All that with 10 players injured.Bendtner coming back next week,Theo and Denilson tonight
If Wenger decide Smalling is a good ganmble ,buy him now for 7M now than wait few more month and have to pay 2 to 3 times the price
Let’s stick with Campbell for a while and blood Kyle Bartley through at the same time.
We have 6 Centre Backs, Campbell, Gallas, Vermaelen, Senderos, Sylvestre and Djourou. At the end of this season Gallas, Sylvestre, Senderos and Campbell are out of contract and Djourou is perenially injured. £7 million seems like small fry to keep our numbers up and add some size and potential to it. You don’t have to be a genius to work that out.
I never saw him play…..but with all the CB than we have plus sol’s return do we really need him??
Well he is young but we have some young talented CB too bartley and ayling …..talking about aylin i don’t know why arsene didn’t put him in the first team yet…..i mean all the fantastic double winner youth team form last year have already play with our first team or with another on loan but not coquelin or ayling why? Are they not good enough?
He was utterly average against Chelsea, but OK, it was his debut, and it was against Chelsea, but he didn’t look as if he had potential to be an Arsenal first team player. He’s not better than Bartley, nor Ayling, and is certainly not worth 7 million pounds :S
He was really great against Drogba and his Chavs. Own goal? no, the ball was entering the net and tried to steer away but never worked for him. I paid particular attention to him because of his success against Drogba, something Senderos in thousand times can’t deal with even against Martins and MaCarthy. Drogba only came to life when Paintsil left the field injured and weakened Fulham’s defensive combo. He’s the best young defensive prospects at the moment.
It’s like Liverpool buying Glen johnsson for £18m,lol!
MONEY WELL SPENT,NOT!!!
FAO Jonathon you may have read 6’5 but they always add an inch or two on. From what I’ve seen of him he does look the business.
This is good news as I cant see Senderos, Campbell, silvestre here next season. As Campbell only short term, Senderos wants to leave now and Silvestre will leave for first team football. That leaves Vermaleen who goin to be here for a long time. Gallas I can see at Arsenal for about two more seasons or mabe three depends his pace goes? That leaves next season TV,Gallas, Djourou Smalling. Then Song is allways able to play here. Nordviet, Barley, Alying puushing for the next spot.
if this guy is talented,young,tall,rugged,£7m and to top it off keeps Drogba quiet – we must get this guy. Buy him and loan him back for the rest of the season and send some of our kids on loan there too in the process….laughing!
Brendon
Its not the question of Senderos wants leave, Arsene has now realised that the guy is not Arsenal quality. Some of us knew this for years. Now, Senderos’ agent has to look for a club for him not us. It seems no club is interested. I read today that Celtic is not interested in coming for him. At 24, if he’s that good why is no big club interested in him? Besides Milan decided no to retain him. Simply put, he’s not good at the highest level.
Cut the crap that he doesn’t wants to play for us rather we don’t want him and we’re offloading him. He’s at the shop window.
The guy has scored an own goal so what? Maldini,Vidic,Baresi,Gallas to name a few have all scored own goals,does that make them shit?
My God, AW must be sick of looking at his first 11 team of hobbits.
If a future Arsenal team sports Bendtner, Galindo, Traore (from Cluj), Szczesny, Djourou, Smalling, Angha, JET, Miguel…they are all 190 cm+!!!
Lol, and the captain will be Wilshere at 170 cm!
Sakho and Kjaer are better. Man i was hoping for one of these 2.
Lol, OzGoonerGuy :)
He would be a brilliant signing he is tall and has more to grow and most importantly he is English however if gallas or vermailen get injured I think campbell will play instead so he should go on loan. Fuck whowever doubts his ability he is exactly the kind of signing we need along with a striker.
He was impressive against chelsea given that it was his first start, but PAINTSIL was the guy who stopped drogba the whole match.
I liked the look of smalling, and we could do with a tall defender.
It might make it harder for djourou who I actually think can be world class in CB or midfield, but the injuries are really piling up for him.
If wenger thinks hes worth the money then Im fine with it. He wouldnt be like the signing of walcott (10m and nowhere near 1st team capable!) because hes already shown he can hold his own at PL level.
incase anyone wants to know i think wellington silva is playin right now
sorry its my bad der team jus looks young as hell
@derick I don’t suppose they do streams for Brazilian junior football? (:
They have a few on myp2p. I could post one of the links on here, but not sure if JS allows that.
what walcott is quality ‘doni’ you don’t no what your talking about sunshine
See the sky sports news….It says The West London club has denied there has been any official approach for the player: “We have had no contact from any club whatsoever over Chris Smalling.”
Maybe not chance to get him anyway…
WOT THE HELL, HOW CAN WE LOSE 2 BOLTON WTF ?
well its 2-2 now
JET is warming out, could this be his night?
Can anyone tell me, again, where I can see our Goals, Goal4rEPLAY hasnt got em, and I forgot the other website .
3-2 phew..!!
I know,
Giandano, do you know any good websites where I can watch our goals now?
I’m sorry I don’t remember any particular websites…
I usually pick 1 up randomly from google when I missed a match
TheCritic…Go to Imscouting.com…then to match highlights.
Thanks Shane, Ill see if that works …
fulham have denied any approach for the player
Not there yet… Um…
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN GET ARSENALS HIGHLIGHTS VS BOLTON!
Man I just hope that Wenger says that he saw the foul by gallas on the bolton midfielder before our second goal. Alan Wiley is a fucking terrible referee. And I hope Wenger doesn’t complain about the play of Bolton. We gave a lot more than we got. It drives me nuts when he bitches and whines, when we ourselves have comitted as many, if not more fouls than the other side. I hold out little hope though.
I’m so happy that we’re top of the Table though!!!:D I thought we could still draw after being down 2-0 but I didn’t think we could win by 2 goals!! This year is starting to look a bit different. if we can maintain our postition or sit 2nd by the end or middle of February, then we might be favourites!!
We are 2nd arent we? milo, or are we first I ony checke dteh table like 10 minutea ago, keybord pkaying up
We’re first because of goals scored. We have the same goal difference as Chelsea, but we have scored more than them. So yup we’re 1st!!:D
WOHOO!!!!!!!!
We did it the hardest way possible!! lol.
;)
http://www.mkdons.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10420~1938991,00.html
We have to get past these next 4 tough games before i get to excited. Seeing Diaby get hurt too.
Milo, Wenger never says we dont ever make bad fouls because everyone does once in a while. It is just when certain teams or players always foul and make bad challenges.
By the way has anyone else noticed how many penalties Man Utd and Chelsea get compared to us?
http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,16429_5874546,00.html
Look at the video. Wenger is usually saying “No” on transfer-talk but this time he’s rambling.
I hope you’re right Jay, top-quality centre back.
Yeah I agree, but hey 1st is 1st. I don’t think Diaby’s injury is too bad but it was hard to tell, because it was his ankle, but he played out the rest of the match so hopefully it isn’t too bad.
Ahhh Shane, don’t fool yourself. Wenger biches and whines a lot!! So do other managers, but hey, what can I say. Personally I think you should be gracious in victory and defeat, and I’ll bet you any money he will either say he didn’t see Gallas’s foul, or he will complain about a penalty that wasn’t given or whatever. It drives me nuts!! It really does. I can’t do anything about it, but it doesn’t mean i can’t evaluate the situation and say to myself…Hey this isn’t right. I know I’m writing it too, but hey, it’s just my opinion.
Never mind!! He apolagized for the tackle!! Wenger that is. Wow!! hey I guess they’re all growing up together. Alright I admit it, I’m an idiot.
Diaby has a calf strain, it sounds like. And you are right Shane. I forgot he was substituted at 76 mins. I guess they are now waiting for a scan or something.
LOL…Milo, it might be time to take a little break from making comments. JK
Man I am actually a bit worried. We could be playing this next run of games with both Denilson and The kid Eastmond in the midfield. Verse the big teams, that is kind of scary. I like the 2 but playing verse the likes of Villa,Man Utd,Chelsea and liverpool coming up, that combo is good enough. Come on Cameroon…lose please.
Man I just hope that Wenger says that he saw the foul by gallas on the bolton midfielder before our second goal. Alan Wiley is a fucking terrible referee. And I hope Wenger doesn’t complain about the play of Bolton. We gave a lot more than we got. It drives me nuts when he bitches and whines, when we ourselves have comitted as many, if not more fouls than the other side. I hold out little hope though.
Milo said this on January 20, 2010 at 10:02 pm
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Sorry mate but you’re sorely mistaken. These bastards have been using their dirty tactics on us for years and nobody said nothing. They have committed far more fouls than us over the past couple of games and we have also had three, yes ‘three’ STONEWALL pens not given in our favour (yes Shane, i notice how Man Utd and Chelsea get a lot more pens than us – it’s because of the whole Eduardo/Celtic situation on top the fact the English hate AW and our ‘foreign’ team). That wanker Taylor rests his knee on Cesc’s head and deliberately puts pressure down on it holding it in place (something i’ve seen Joe Rogen praise on a few occasions before) and nobody says nothing. Nobody says anything about the constant over-physical challenges our players are on the end of against these fuckers but the moment good ‘ol Billy Gallas makes one bad challenge, there’s uproar. Yes, it was a bad tackle and i don’t condone it but i’m willing to bet it was just clumsy rather than malicious like that c*** Tony Gayle said. Like many have said on a few other blogs regarding the matter, i hope the Bolton lad isn’t too badly hurt but fuck Bolton and their shit tactics and team. Gallas will get a three game ban for that……you wait and see, and why? Because these bitches in the media are determined to make a big hoo-ha about it thus getting him banned.
If that was Wayne Rooney instead of Fabregas in would have been 2 penalties. It gets old seeing Chelsea and Man utd tied in the 2nd half only to get a bs penalty then go on to win 3-0 and everyone says how great they played.
By the way, it wasnt like the ref missed a pk foul by us or something. Refs miss fouls all the time, you play on. Bolton should have played better defense.
Is there validity in the rumors about us being interested in the young Lyon defensive midfielder Maxime Gonalons?
swap senderos and three million for him anyone and don’t loan him back, cause if gallas gets a ban we’re gonna need all the centrebacks we have.
@ Milo
Too bad for you Arsene Wenger DID apologize for that.
I know he apologized and I admitted my mistake lol. I don’t hate Bolton for the way they played. I thought they played pretty fairly actually. Gallas should NOT get a 3 match ban!! 1 at the MOST. And I totally agree about Chelsea and Man U getting more penalties. It all comes back to Eduardo’s incident I guess. I’ll admit that he dove, but the penalties that have not been called on us add up to at least 6 or 7 right?? I think we have already paid our dues. Rosicky played with Fabregas in the midfield so we might use Denilson only instead of him and Eastmond. Diaby started on the wing. Now that he is hurt, Walcott might step in somewhere and maybe even a young player like JET?? Merida is injured too so that might rule him out. Hard to keep track of all the injuries and rehab!!:S
I imagine Wenger apologised for the Gallas tackle because we won the game. Its easier to say sorry when you have the 3 points.
Well hey at least he apologized. In years past he probably wouldn’t have. He still has a ways to go before he can be considered a “good sport” but it doesn’t make him a bad person. Football is his passion and it’s pretty hard to be objective about something you are so passionate about. But he is improving a lot in my opinion. Especially the way in which he handled the Henry handball situation. I was hoping he would ask for a replay and he did!
Wenger offered to replay that 1999 FA cup game against Sheffield United when Kanu got the ball from a throw in after it was put out following an injury and crossed to Overmars for the winning goal…I would say that was very sporting! But yes I would agree that Wenger is a very poor loser but then that is a good thing. Why would you want a manager who is happy to lose!?
If that was Wayne Rooney instead of Fabregas in would have been 2 penalties. It gets old seeing Chelsea and Man utd tied in the 2nd half only to get a bs penalty then go on to win 3-0 and everyone says how great they played.
shane said this on January 21, 2010 at 6:31 am
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Exactly. What was the difference between Cesc’s one last night and the one that was awarded to Rooney earlier on this season against us at Old Toilet?
Gallas can’t get a one game ban for that Milo. The F.A will ask Alan Wiley if he had seen the incident in-game, what punishment would he dish out to Gallas, to which his reply would either be a foul and a yellow card or a foul and a straight red. If it’s the latter, then Gallas will receive a retrospective three game ban.
So close for a hundred comments, I want another signing now.
PS. Goal4Replay did temporarily have the goals up, and I saw them all b4 they took em down.
100 COMMENTS
Congratulations TheCritic. Here is your medal ( o ). WTF is it with people having to be the first to post under an article with nothing to say or to reach some pointless milestone? Perhaps you could explain that in your acceptance speech TheCritic? Here I am bored at work and I thought there were some more comments to read so please understand my disappointment.