Source: PA
Smalling smiling at Old Trafford life
Chris Smalling has been pleasantly surprised at how easily he has settled into life at Manchester United.
There were quite a few eyebrows raised when Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed an intention to sign the 21-year-old from Fulham for £10million.
It was a huge fee for a player who had only made his Cottagers debut the previous May and boasted just 19 appearances when he finally made the move north last summer.
Yet Smalling has excelled in his new surroundings, surging past Jonny Evans in the central defensive pecking order, confidently replacing Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic when he required.
The Londoner was even drafted into the England squad for the friendly defeat by France in November, although he has been dropped back into Stuart Pearce's Under-21 set-up for next week's encounter with Italy.
It can hardly be viewed as a set-back though and Smalling accepts life at Old Trafford is pretty good. He said: "A lot of the young lads have been here for a long time. I only came here in the summer and I wasn't at Fulham for too long, so I have surprised myself how settled I have become. Manchester is quite different to London. It is a bit more chilled out up here and I only live five minutes from the training ground, so everything is nice and easy."
