Will Smallbone: Southampton, Stoke, alopecia and me

Will Smallbone bangs the table twice in the first minute of our interview. “Touch wood,” he says.

Few could blame the 23-year-old for wanting to ensure luck stays on his side when, for so long, it always seemed to go against him.

Smallbone has just played his final home match for Stoke City against Queens Park Rangers to end a productive and, as he says, “very enjoyable” season on loan to the Championship club from Southampton, finishing third in the fans’ voting for player of the year. His personal high point came in a 5-1 away win against Sunderland in March, where Smallbone registered a hat-trick of assists. Stoke would ideally like to keep him on loan for another season.

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He’s settled in Hale, a southern suburb of Manchester that’s a 50-minute drive from Stoke, living with his girlfriend, Sofia, who also moved up from Southampton. Today, his friends are waiting for him in the players’ lounge while his family come and visits whenever they can. He gets changed quickly and walks out of the dressing room to meet The Athletic before going into one of the Bet365 Stadium’s offices.

Stoke have lost 1-0 to QPR but Smallbone was impressive, given licence to get forward, make runs in behind and embrace his role as their set-piece taker. Having played 45 times for Stoke since his arrival last July, it is the result of consistent, injury-free playing time.

“This is my first full season of playing football,” Smallbone says. “I’ve really enjoyed playing week in, week out and finding a way to get myself fit and through games. That was something I needed to prove to other people — but to myself more importantly. I needed to prove mentally I could stay fit because I always just seemed to be breaking down.

“I had the big knee injury and then a reoccurring calf injury — I kept asking myself when it was going to stop and allow me to play football. Hopefully, touch wood, I’ve got myself back towards that this year.”

That “big knee injury” marked the start of a period in Smallbone’s life that remains difficult to discuss.

In January 2021, during a Premier League fixture away to Leicester City, the midfielder collided with the home side’s Timothy Castagne and initially played on, thinking it was bruising on the knee. The following week, scan results showed Smallbone had in fact suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury, ruling him out for 10 months.

“It’s horrible,” Smallbone says. “It’s not something I really want to think back to. Because I played on, I didn’t expect the news to be as bad as it was. When the doctor told me it was my ACL, the first thing you think is the time (you’ll be) out. I didn’t realise how tough it would be: after having surgery, I literally could not do anything. It felt like my legs had been taken away and I needed everyone to help me.”

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Not only did the ACL injury put an abrupt end to his breakthrough season in Southampton’s first team, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it also coincided with him being diagnosed as having alopecia.

“It started a bit before my injury,” Smallbone says. “I remember in the Leicester game I had a patch on the back of my head. Because I had longish hair at that point, it was coverable. I then went on to have the injury. I don’t know if it was stress-related, but it just started falling out.”

Smallbone decided to shave all his hair off. Football can be a vain business, with any slight defect magnified and endlessly mocked by opposition teams’ supporters. Just 21 at the time, Smallbone, as he puts it, was hit with a “double-whammy” — coming to terms with a significant career setback while battling personal insecurities.

“It took me a long time to get over it,” he says. “I’d say I’m still trying to get over it now. You get called all sorts, so it was tough — especially when I first came back and was on the bench. I would warm up and people would shout stuff. It’s not nice. You laugh it off but, deep down, it gets to you. I can’t thank my family enough for their support in helping me accept it and be normal, as such.”

Perhaps such tests of confidence and resilience so early on in a senior career have imparted a wisdom and sense of perspective a typical 23-year-old may not otherwise have acquired.

Smallbone is now an ambassador for Alopecia UK and is aiming to attend their events this summer. “It’s quite a niche thing to happen to someone so hopefully I can try and help some of the kids that are going through a similar thing.”

Going into pre-season last year, Smallbone was intent on getting out of Southampton on loan. He had struggled with other niggling injuries and felt he needed to build momentum and to prove something, especially to himself.

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“Having those setbacks and getting my confidence back has been key,” he says. “Before Stoke, sometimes I wasn’t sure going into games because it had been such a long time since I had a run of matches where I could feel comfortable.

“But this year, I’ve learned a lot from games where I haven’t played well. It has helped define my position and what my strengths are. The gaffer (Alex Neil) likes me being a running No 8 or 10. We have Gayley (33-year-old striker Dwight Gayle) — who won’t mind me saying — is probably not as sharp as he used to be. So he will come to feet and me, with my legs, running in behind has worked a lot.”

Smallbone is comfortable passing and shooting with either foot, playing with poise and balance in midfield. He has sound, well-balanced technique that complements the position he plays now, which is to the right of the midfield three. It has become his favourite role and he has provided five assists and three goals this season. “It gives me the freedom to drop deep, but also stretch in behind.”

Having a set job is in contrast to the flexibility demonstrated at his parent club under Ralph Hasenhuttl, who played him anywhere across the front six in the 4-2-2-2 shape. “That formation probably didn’t suit me as a player, because when I was out on the right — it’s not my game,” Smallbone says. “I would then play up front, which is probably not my game either!

“As a six in a midfield, it’s quite a big position, especially in the Premier League. So I could understand everyone’s tentativeness to put me in as a double six. I always believed I could do it but I was happy to come on loan because it meant I’d get minutes in a position that I saw myself playing.”

Southampton and Hasenhuttl recognised Smallbone’s desire to go on loan but had reservations. This season, Hasenhuttl wanted to develop a new wing-back system that comprised three central midfielders, a way of playing that was a better match for Smallbone’s natural attributes.

Continental clubs were interested in him before Southampton’s pre-season tour of Austria, where Smallbone was viewed as being the most impressive performer. But it was Stoke, led by John O’Shea (who was the Republic of Ireland Under-21s assistant coach and knew Smallbone from working in that setup together), who enquired. O’Shea texted Smallbone while Southampton were in Austria, asking what his plans were for the upcoming campaign. O’Shea was about to join Stoke as first-team coach and suggested he follow him there.

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“Ralph ummed and ahhed and said he wasn’t sure whether to send me on loan,” Smallbone says. “He said I could play a lot (for Southampton), but obviously couldn’t promise it. I wanted to play for Southampton but I wanted to selfishly have the best opportunity to play as much as possible and that’s why my head was set on going on loan as the next step in my career. Ralph was great to send me out and said it was a shame that we didn’t change to a midfield three earlier because I would have had a better chance of getting in the team.”

Smallbone will return to the mothership in July for pre-season and, unlike last year, does not think he needs to go on loan. The Athletic asks if he feels ready to be an important player next season, regardless of the division relegation-threatened Southampton find themselves in, having also made his full Ireland debut in the last international break.

☘️ Ireland take the lead against Latvia through Callum O’Dowda!

The @CardiffCityFC man scores his first senior international goal ⚽

What a cross by @stokecity’s Will Smallbone on debut, though 🤌

— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) March 22, 2023

“Yeah, for sure. I feel more than ready,” Smallbone says. “Hopefully, they don’t go down but if the worst did happen, me and Nathan (Tella, who has helped Burnley win the second tier title this season on loan) having good, different, Championship experiences could potentially be a big help.”

Smallbone’s current contract expires at the end of the 2023-24 season but there are proposals on the table for an extension.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wanted to go back to Southampton,” he says. “It’s been my dream ever since the age of eight, when I joined, to come through the academy and play for the first team. I achieved that, but not to the extent of what I wanted.

“This year has been a reset and helped me to find myself as a player and give myself the best opportunity going back to Southampton, whoever or whatever is there. But we’ll see in pre-season what the story is.”

Early turbulence has given way to clarity and confidence in Smallbone. His season with Stoke has provided everything a loan should.

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“I can’t thank Stoke enough,” he says. “We know we haven’t performed as a collective or hit the targets that we wanted. But as an individual, the minutes played have really proven to myself that I can do it.”

(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Rachel Orr)