Nobody knows if Chris Smalling is injured

You'd think Manchester United could manage to get through a simple international break without anything weird or embarrassing happening. Apparently not.

This morning, the Daily Mail's Dominic King reported that Chris Smalling would miss at least a month, and possibly six weeks, after breaking his toe in two places. Apparently this is the same injury he played through at Chelsea. As such, per the Mail, "Jose Mourinho has been left embarrassed by his decision to question Chris Smalling's fitness".

But! The Guardian's Jamie Jackson claims that when this was put to United, "a partial denial was given". We don't know precisely which part was denied: it could be the nature of the injury, the fact that it's the same injury he had against Chelsea, or the length of time he'll be missing. Perhaps a panicking United contact has accidentally denied that Chris Smalling has any toes at all.

Whatever the truth is, we can probably be certain that Mourinho isn't actually embarrassed. He really doesn't seem the type.