On 27 January 2010, Manchester United announced the signing of Chris Smalling, a 20-year-old centre-back from Fulham with only a few months of Premier League football behind him. The deal, for an undisclosed fee, went through on 1 July 2010 and changed the course of his career: two years earlier he had been playing in the seventh tier of English football. Born on 22 November 1989 in Greenwich, London, Smalling went on to play at Old Trafford, in Rome, in Saudi Arabia and in Portugal, and won 31 caps for England.
He grew up in Kent and came through local sides Walderslade Boys and Lordswood, where he spent 2002 to 2004. After a short spell in the Millwall academy between 2006 and 2007, he joined Maidstone United’s youth set-up at 16. His first-team debut came on 11 April 2007 in a 4-1 defeat to Tonbridge Angels in the Kent Senior Cup, and his league bow followed in December that year in a 1-1 draw with Harlow Town. He made 16 appearances for Maidstone and scored once, in his final game, a 4-2 win away at East Thurrock United on 24 March 2008.
The move to Fulham
In April 2008 he agreed a two-year contract with Middlesbrough, but the arrangement was cancelled within a month. In June 2008 he signed for Fulham instead, who paid Maidstone £10,000 up front plus a further £10,000 for every ten league matches he played. His Premier League debut came on 24 May 2009, as a 77th-minute substitute in a 2-0 home defeat by Everton. He made 13 league appearances and 19 in all competitions for the club, without scoring, and was not in the matchday squad for the 2010 Europa League final, which Fulham lost 2-1 to Atlético Madrid after extra time.
Nine seasons at Manchester United
His competitive debut for United came on 8 August 2010 as a second-half substitute in the Community Shield, a 3-1 win over Chelsea. In his first season he won the 2010-11 Premier League and finished as a Champions League runner-up. A second league title followed in 2012-13 as he worked his way into the side at centre-back. He captained the team for the first time on 17 May 2015 in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal, and was voted the Players’ Player of the Year in 2015-16, the season United lifted the FA Cup. In 2016-17 he added the League Cup and the Europa League. In total he made 323 appearances and scored 18 goals for United, 12 of them in 206 league games, and also won the Community Shield in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Roma and the Conference League
On 30 August 2019 he joined Roma on a season-long loan, for which the Italian club paid €3 million. On 5 October 2020 the move became permanent, on a three-year deal worth an initial €15 million and potentially rising to €20 million with add-ons. On 25 May 2022 he was named man of the match as Roma beat Feyenoord 1-0 in Tirana, Albania, to win the inaugural Europa Conference League. The following year Roma reached the 2022-23 Europa League final and lost it, with Smalling selected in the competition’s Team of the Season. He signed an extension in June 2023 and finished his time in Rome with 155 appearances and 10 goals, 113 and 9 of them in Serie A.
England
He represented England at under-20 level, debuting against Italy on 31 March 2009, and at under-21 level, winning 14 caps and scoring once; he was named in the Team of the Tournament at the 2011 European Under-21 Championship. His senior debut came on 2 September 2011, at right-back, in a 3-0 win over Bulgaria in qualifying for Euro 2012. He was part of the squad at the 2014 World Cup, starting the 0-0 draw with Costa Rica, and at Euro 2016. His only international goal came on 2 June 2016 in a 1-0 win over Portugal at Wembley. He won 31 caps before being left out from November 2017 onwards.
Saudi Arabia and Porto
On 2 September 2024 he signed a two-year contract with Saudi side Al-Fayha. His debut on 14 September ended in a 5-0 home defeat to Al Raed, with an own goal and a straight red card. Over his two seasons there he made 67 appearances and scored 4 goals. On 30 September 2026 he joined Porto on a free transfer.
PortoDefenderMarket value €140.0K