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Pogba, Rashford and Rooney make Smalling's dream Man Utd XI

Chris Smalling has played alongside some top talent during his time at Manchester United, and has now attempted to piece together a dream XI of Red Devils team-mates.

The England international moved to Old Trafford in January 2010.

He has won the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League and Community Shield while with United, and the 27-year-old lies one appearance short of 250 for the club.

Selecting a side made up of colleagues proved to be a tough task, with there a deep talent pool available from which to select.

Chris Smalling Manchester United dream XI
Chris Smalling Manchester United dream XI

Eventually, Smalling was able to draw up a star-studded selection for United’s official website.

In goal, he plumped for David de Gea over Edwin van der Sar, with the Spaniard considered to be “the world’s best”.

Antonio Valencia gets the nod having “made the right-back spot his own”, while Patrice Evra was “someone who always put in a great performance”.

Unable to pick himself at centre-half, Smalling opted for a pairing of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand – two players who helped him to settle at OId Trafford and were “an honour” to work with.

Moving into midfielder and “no-one had a better right foot” then Paul Scholes, with his control of the game “a pleasure to watch”.

Michael Carrick is selected to pick a pass, Ryan Giggs’ career “speaks for itself” and Paul Pogba is charged with the task of going “box-to-box”.

Unsurprisingly, a place was found up front for United’s all-time leading goalscorer, with Wayne Rooney having left the club over the summer with 253 efforts to his name – along with 53 for England.

Smalling said of the iconic frontman: “I was lucky enough to watch him a lot on TV and then play with him and be with him when he broke the United record and England record.”

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Rooney is paired with current fan favourite Marcus Rashford, with the 19-year-old being tipped for the top after graduating out of the Red Devils’ academy system.

Smalling added: “There are a lot of other experienced strikers I have played with but the impact he has made, I think by the end of his career he will be known as one of the greats.”