Reports: Smalling and Jones could leave Manchester United in the summer

Jones and Smalling could be on their way out of Old Trafford this summer

×Proofread

According to the Daily Mail, both Chris Smalling and Phil Jones could leave Old Trafford in the summer. As both of them will have just one year left in their contracts and Manchester United definitely wouldn’t want them both to leave for free. According to the paper,there have been no talks about contract extension with both the English internationals.

This is a cause of concern for United fans as the duo recently have put in stellar performances against Spurs and Liverpool. Both of them were Ferguson buys who believed that they could go on to become the first choice pairing for United for years to come.

Although things haven’t gone according to plan as both Jones and Smalling have had injury problems as well as heavy competition for places.

Van Gaal’s highly talked about philosophy is one reason why Manchester United might let go of them in the summer as the Dutch coach values defenders who are good on the ball. He believes in possession and he wants the attacks to start from the back.

Both Jones and Smalling are not that good with the ball and the one defender United have who fits the mould is Evans who has had a terrible season so far. So United might be forced to sell them as Van Gaal might believe that they don’t fit in his philosophy,but it might be hard to replace both of them with high quality center backs in the summer.