Smalling joined Roma for the duration of the 2019/20 campaign in August when it became clear that he would be a fringe player at United following the £80m arrival of Harry Maguire.
It proved to be the move the 30-year-old needed to reignite his career and he has been widely praised for the way he has taken to Italian football.
But with his parent club struggling to put a defence together as a result of injuries to Maguire, Axel Tuanzebe, Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo – even Phil Jones looked to be struggling with cramp in his last appearance – Smalling would have been in line to play an important role.
However, the Daily Mirror notes that there is no option in Smalling’s loan agreement with Roma to recall him to Old Trafford any earlier than the end of the season.
Yet with Maguire potentially now available to face Norwich, and at the very least not seriously hurt, the crisis has already started to ease a little.
“He’s got a chance of tomorrow so we’ll give him today training and see if he gets through that one because it wasn’t a bad one,” Solskjaer told MUTV on Friday morning.
Eric Bailly is also nearing a return to match fitness, having suffered a knee injury during pre-season - the Ivorian set to play for the Under-23 team on Friday night.
If Maguire is not fit in time to face Norwich, Jones would be expected to partner Victor Lindelof again. If Jones has any lingering cramp issues, it may be that Nemanja Matic is asked to fill in as an emergency centre-back, which would have a knock-on effect in midfield.
Jones was given the run around by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup earlier this week and has only made one Premier League appearance so far this season, such has been his lowly status in the defensive pecking order. That was against Sheffield United in November and ended after just 45 minutes when he substituted at half-time following a disastrous performance.
United had been tipped to consider an emergency loan signing to cover for Maguire’s absence.
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Source : 90min