Manchester United are set to offload two players that have come in for a lot of criticism this season and the worrying thing is that Arsene Wenger has had his eye on both.

Jose Mourinho is reportedly ready to ship out Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, with the Daily Star claiming he has told United chiefs to bin the pair to make room for some mega defensive signings.

As a result, Arsenal fans could be looking at another two United rejects coming their way.

Wenger has tried to sign Chris Smalling, 28, a number of times and was in the mix before the Englishman ultimately opted to join United in 2008. He is out of contract in 2019.

Phil Jones, similarly, was connected with Arsenal and both have been in the gossip pages since linked to Arsenal, especially Smalling. The centre-back, who is still only 25, is also out of contract in 2109.

While there’s nothing to say Arsenal will move for either of the pair the worrying thing is that you can’t dismiss it out of hand. While United will be looking for a major upgrade, you know Arsene Wenger might be happy enough to pick up their rejects.

Smalling was labelled as ‘embarrassing’ after his latest outing against Newcastle when he was lucky not to give away a penalty, was booked for a dive and was fortunate not to have already been booked prior to that for a deliberate handball.

Manchester United website, The People’s Person, had this to say about Smalling after the Newcastle game: “The main point here, I guess, is that despite the number of opportunities and years of experience under his belt, Smalling hasn’t shown any discernible signs of improvement, or even upward trajectory.

“He continues to thrive and fall short in the same areas – strong in the box but technically way off the mark – and at a club of this magnitude you simply cannot accommodate players who stand still.”

But we all know a club that does, don’t we…