European Giants scramble for Man United ace

 

Juventus are in the market for a new Centre Back, as their Italian Twin Towers, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonard Bonnucci are in the twilight of their careers. The high profile capture of Dutch teenage sensation, De Ligt last season helped to ease the pressure on their long standing CBs, but De Ligt picked up an injury towards the end of the last season and will be out for several months. They will certainly be short in central defence, as their other CBs, Ruganni and Benatia, are not considered good enough to be regular starters.Napoli have Kalidou Koulibaly and Kostas Minolas, but Minolas has dropped  in form and is no longer the rock that he once was at Roma. Koulibaly could also be tempted away by the lure of the EPL, so they too have problems in central defence. Inter usually plays with three CBs, but apart from the Dutch Stefan de Vrij(28), the other two star defenders, Diego Godin and Milan Skriniar have been inconsistent, and Inter may decide to sell one of them this summer. On the strength of his performance this past season, Chris Smalling would easily pick a regular starting shirt at any of these three Serie A giants, and but for the emotional   attachment he has with Roma, he will surely fancy his chances of ending up at one of these Italian clubs  this season.But the question is: for how much longer can Man United wait for Roma to come up with the cash to acquire Smalling on a permanent basis? Both clubs have been haggling over Smalling’s valuation all through the past season, with United demanding a minimum of 20m, and Roma only willing to pay a total of 15m in batches. If Smalling’s price were to be raised to 25-30m because of last season’s performance, the Italian giants in their present condition will quickly jump at the offer. But United, for reasons best known to them, have continued to wait for Roma to complete the deal, rather than throwing the bid open to all comers.But for how long?