For every Angel Gomes or Paul Pogba who makes a name for themselves after leaving Manchester United, there are countless examples of the other extreme too but this one takes the cake.Once a player plays for Manchester United, such is the visibility of the club that barring some extraordinary achievement, the tag of “ex-Man Utd player” follows them around always.
It directly results in their performances being scrutinised far more than usual long after leaving the club.
One ex-player, in particular, would have hoped that wasn’t the case after he marked his debut for his new club with an own goal, a red card, and a 5-0 defeat.
Chris Smalling’s nightmare debut
Chris Smalling left Old Trafford in 2019 on loan to AS Roma, where he moved permanently at the end of his loan spell and stayed there for five years.
He became a valued member of the team, also playing under Jose Mourinho again, but his international prospects pretty much ended.
Still, he had a respectable career and this summer, he joined the long list of players who have moved to Saudi Arabia near the end of their careers.
Signing for Al Fayha, he finally made his debut in a Saudi Pro League game against Al Raed and it is not a debut he will forget for a long time, but for all the wrong reasons.
It all started right away, as in the sixth minute, Smalling marked his debut with an own goal to give the visitors a lead.
As it happened, that would just be the start of the nightmare. Al Fahya scored two more times in the first half to go into the break 3-0 up.
Things went from bad to worse for Smalling in the second half as he got sent off with a straight red card in the 55th minute, leaving his team a mountain to climb.
The numerical advantage told immediately, as Al Fayha conceded twice in the next ten minutes to go 5-0 down, the scoreline the game would finish with.
Smalling will now be suspended for the next games but that is exactly what he might need after such a dizzy debut.
What next for Smalling?
After the first three league games of the season, Smalling’s Al Fayha side sit rock bottom of the standings, losing in all three games, scoring once, and conceding ten.
They’ll play Al Khaleej on September 20 but Smalling will, of course, be unavailable for that game after his sending-off.
Jordan Henderson remains the only high-profile English player to have moved to Saudi Arabia since their footballing league revolution and Smalling had become the second one.
After Henderson cut short his tenure forgettable and Smalling started on the wrong foot as well, English players might think twice before making that move in the future.
Smalling remains of strong mentality, however, that made him a favourite of many managers at Old Trafford and beyond too.
It remains to be seen if he can bounce back from this setback otherwise it would be an unfortunate closing chapter to an often underrated career at the top level.