Chris Smalling in advanced talks with FC Porto

Chris Smalling has not played a competitive match since 21 May, and he is the defender Porto want. A free agent since leaving Al-Fayha this summer, the former Manchester United centre-back is in advanced talks with the leaders of the Portuguese league. The story broke in the Portuguese daily A Bola and was picked up on Wednesday by Foot Mercato and So Foot; the BBC reports the same. According to Foot Mercato, the player is already in Porto, and only the usual medical separates him from a contract to the end of the season.

Nineteen years, from Maidstone to Saudi Arabia

Smalling started at Maidstone, then came Fulham, Manchester United (five major trophies, including two Premier League titles) and Roma, where he won the Europa Conference League in 2022 under José Mourinho. Capped 31 times by England, he left English football in 2019 for Rome and spent the past two seasons with Al-Fayha in Saudi Arabia.

Perfect in the league, beaten at home by City in Europe

Francesco Farioli’s side have won all seven league games and sit five points clear of Benfica. Their Champions League campaign opened with a home defeat by Manchester City, and the schedule does not ease up: league games at the weekend, European football in midweek. A free-agent centre-back costs no transfer fee, and Smalling’s experience offers rotation cover for a squad fighting on two fronts.

The French site So Foot points out the pattern: Jakub Kiwior and Jan Bednarek already anchor the middle of the defence, and Smalling would be the third centre-back to arrive from the Premier League.

Nothing is signed on Wednesday evening. Neither the club nor the player has spoken, and the BBC also mentions a Rangers option that went nowhere. If the medical goes through, the former England defender returns to European football at the club currently leading Portugal.