CHRIS SMALLING
FourFourTwo UK|October 2023
The Englishman was shunted out of Old Trafford in 2019, but has since become key at Roma
Matt Nash
CHRIS SMALLING

After spending the last four years in Rome since swapping Manchester for the Eternal City, how’s your Italian?

[Smiles] It could be better, but equally I can do interviews and have conversations, so it’s pretty good. I can get by, and also translate for a lot of my friends and family. There have been ups and downs with it, but once you’ve learnt a foreign language – I’d never learnt another one properly – then you can pick up others after. It’s a work in progress.

You signed a two-year contract extension in April. That must be an indication of how much you’re enjoying your time at Roma?

When I first joined Roma on a season-long loan in 2019, it was a last-minute thing and hadn’t been the plan at the beginning of the summer, but it happened and I find myself still here to this day. My family have taken to it, too – it was a chaotic time to have to say, “We’re going in 48 hours!” In April, I weighed up all of my options – in Italy and potentially back in England – but it just felt right to stay.

Had you always wanted to experience life in a foreign country or was the move purely out of necessity? 

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