Chris Smalling Passes Roma Medical & Matteo Darmian Set to Join Parma on Permanent Deal

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling has successfully passed a medical ahead of his loan move to Roma, where the England international will hope to play more football than he would have by staying at Old Trafford this season. Matteo Darmian is also set for a move to Serie A, with Parma, on a permanent deal. 

Now it is just for the Serie A club to announce that the temporary transfer, which is expected to give United a €3m loan fee, is complete.

Smalling, who joined United from Fulham in 2010 and is the club’s current longest serving first-team player, had fallen down the pecking order under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof have been the manager’s preferred centre-back pairing so far this season, with home-grown Axel Tuanzebe the back-up option on the bench.

Smalling, along with Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo, both of whom will be staying in Manchester this season despite being linked with moves, had not even been selected for the substitutes bench in any of the opening three games of the new Premier League campaign.

Solskjaer appeared to suggest that Smalling’s United career may not be over, not ruling out the 29-year-old returning to the fold next season after the loan.

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“He’ll come back better for it because it's a big club, it's a good league. There aren't too many English players who have been playing in Italy so I think he'll enjoy it,” the boss told MUTV.

As for Matteo Darmian, Fabrizio Romano has reported that the out of favour full back is set to join Parma on a permanent deal, set to be worth €1.5m to Man Utd; a loss on the near €15m spent to bring the defender to Old Trafford from Torino in 2015.