“It’s gone better than I could ever have imagined”

Christmas this year was very different for Roma defender Chris Smalling. Rather than return to the frost and fog of Manchester, the Englishman and his family, together with friends, spent a glorious sun-blest festive break in his new home on the ancient Via Appia in Rome.

And it would be a mistake to imagine the 30-year-old as some sort of Napoleon, languishing in exile on St Helena, wondering why he no longer plays for either England or Manchester United.

When United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told him in August that he would no longer be an automatic first-choice selection, Smalling knew what he wanted to do. Solskjaer told him that there would be plenty of football for him, but that meant “maybe half the games”, says Smalling.

So when a £3million loan offer came in from Roma he jumped at it. One morning he was in Manchester talking it through with Solskjaer, the next day he was in Italy talking to Roma’s Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca. It