17 August, 2017
It was then that he explained why he'd be happy to see the Serbian midfielder, who United signed from Chelsea last month, in the centre of Liverpool's midfield.
Many questioned Chelsea's decision to sanction Matic's £40m transfer to Manchester United.
The Red Devils secured a remarkable £40m deal to sign the Serbia worldwide from the Premier League champions earlier this month to address an area of weakness in Jose Mourinho's team.
The Serbian worldwide earned rave reviews from pundits and supporters alike for his performance in the Red Devils' 4-0 win over West Ham United at the weekend. "I always knew he was a good player but coming up close to him in training and how he's performed with us, it's gone to a whole new level of appreciation", he said.
"I think his age helps and obviously he comes from a club in the Premier League so he's not needed very long to settle in at all".
Smalling believes that the new arrivals, which includes Romelu Lukaku, coupled with players returning from injury has put the Red Devils in perhaps their healthiest position since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down as manager four years ago.
"Obviously, I don't want to create any headlines, but I'm a huge fan of Matic and looking at him from the weekend he looks the right piece of the jigsaw that Jose needs".
"I think that all those players - Wijnaldum, Henderson and Can - would all benefit from having a real big monster of a central midfielder in there who can break up play and help Liverpool be a bit more secure when they pile so many numbers forward".
"Winning a couple of competitions last season gives the players loads of confidence and you can see the way they were bonding together on the tour to America that the lads get on really well together".
Speaking to the Metro, Smalling was quick to hail the 29-year-old for making such a seamless transition into life at Old Trafford.