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CHRIS SMALLING has suddenly become one of Manchester United and England’s most important players. Not all that long ago the 26-year-old was the subject of fans’ wrath. Good enough for the top level? Do us a favour.

How times have changed. This season the defender has grown into the potential the Red Devils saw when they signed him from Fulham in 2010.

It’s been a remarkable rise for Smalling, who was playing in the Ryman League for Maidstone United in 2008.

Now his performances make him a certainty for Roy Hodgson’s Three Lions squad in France next summer. He could even be one of the first names on the team-sheet as England look to solve their defensive conundrum.

We bet his days in the muck and nettles of Non-League football couldn’t seem further away than when he goes out on date nights with his 30-year-old glamour model girlfriend Sam Cooke!