Manchester United Transfer News: Red Devils end Christian Eriksen pursuit, Harry Maguire shirt number officially revealed, and more: August 7, 2019

#3 United reject loan bid for Chris Smalling

Manchester United have refused to let Chris Smalling go on loan

Harry Maguire's arrival at Old Trafford was supposed to trigger a set of chain reactions in the squad. The Englishman is a part of at least 7 centerbacks at United right now, including Axel Tuanzebe, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo. While the Maguire-Lindelof pairing should be Solskjaer's preferred choice, it was expected that the Red Devils would be open to offloading at least a couple of the squad players for the same position.

Sky Sports reports that Everton had approached United with a loan offer for Chris Smalling, but it was rejected by the Red Devils. Solskjaer apparent sees the Englishman as an integral part of his squad and is unwilling to let him leave. Smalling signed a contract extention in December last year, which shall keep him at Old Trafford until June 2022, with an option for an additional year.

While United's reluctance to sell might surprise a few fans, it is understandable why Solskjaer wants the Englishman around. Eric Bailly is out for 4 months with injury and Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have an injury ridden history. As such, Smalling and young Tuanzebe remain the only viable back up plan for the Maguire-Lindelof pair.

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Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Nnanna Mba