St Johnstone’s transfer business is gaining momentum, with former Manchester City central midfielder, Matt Smith set to be their latest recruit.
The Perth club should soon close a two-year deal with MK Dons for Smith, who has 19 caps for Wales.
Courier Sport takes a detailed look at the 23-year-old’s career to date.
Best part of a decade at Manchester City
A big club academy pedigree has been a theme of Saints’ recent transfer business.
Sam McClelland was brought through the ranks at Chelsea and Oludare Olufunwa played the bulk of his development football with Southampton before moving for a season to Liverpool.
Smith, like Olufunwa, has ‘split service’.
City midfielder Matt Smith (19): "Will I break into the first team at Man City? I don’t know. It would be fantastic if I could break in, they’re a wonderful team" [Mwy o Sgorio] pic.twitter.com/WAhN78AFjB
— Man City Info (@ManCitylnfo) May 16, 2019
He was with West Brom until the age of 14 when he was snapped up by Manchester City.
With City, he was predominantly used as a central midfielder but also occasionally filled in at right-back.
Could have been a bat and pads
Smith was (is) a multi-talented sportsman.
Had it not been for football, he may have been able to pursue a career in cricket.
He reached county standard in the Midlands but described the sport as “just something I was doing through the summer when I had time”.
He added: “It wasn’t a hard decision to commit to football when West Brom asked me to.”
Welsh roots
Born and bred in England, Smith qualifies to play for Wales thanks to his Gwent-born grandfather and by 16, he had captained his adopted country at under-16 and under-17 levels.
Smith is a couple of months older than Luke Jephcott and had progressed to full international honours before his new Saints team-mate appeared for the under-21s.
They have played against each other in club football, with Jephcott scoring for Plymouth on his 100th appearance when Smith was on loan at Doncaster.
Heading abroad
Smith impressed with City’s under-18s, so much so that it was deemed he was ready for his first loan move.
He spent the 2018/19 season in the Dutch Eerste division with FC Twente.
He played 37 times for FC Twente, helping them win promotion back to the Eredivisie.
In the past year, Matt Smith has played over 3,000 minutes for FC Twente, signed a new contract at Manchester City, and started competitive games for Wales.
Not bad for his first season in senior football. @sgorio interviewed him last week.pic.twitter.com/gLdsMGpclN
— Scouted Football (@scoutedftbl) May 20, 2019
Twente’s sporting director Ted van Leeuwen described Smith as a “gift”.
The spin-offs from this hugely successful loan were a first full Wales cap against Mexico at the age of 18 and a three-year contract extension with City, who had to fight off interest from the Bundesliga to keep him.
No shortage of loans
After shorts spells with QPR and Charlton Athletic in the Championship, City chose Doncaster Rovers and League One as Smith’s next destination.
As in the Netherlands, he was a first team regular in Yorkshire (43 appearances this time).
Doncaster Rovers midfielder Matt Smith produces pass of the season contender against AFC Wimbledon
Gets better with every rewatch 🔥pic.twitter.com/k343DjT52j
— Thick Accent (@ThickAccentCom) January 27, 2021
And again, there was a big prize earned with Wales on the back of it.
Jephcott missed out on Euro 2021 selection but Smith – with 14 caps collected by this point – was picked for Rob Page’s squad.
Mixing with the stars
Smith has obviously played alongside a world class, generational talent, in Gareth Bale.
He’s also played against some legends of the sport.
Smith has come up against the likes of Rodri, Modric, Perisic, Kovacic, Szoboszlai, Grealish, Saka, Lewandowski, Gakpo, De Bruyne and Hazard.
You’d like to think he’s collected a few good shirts!
Sold
Following limited opportunities with Hull City – the last loan – City recalled Smith early and transferred him to MK Dons for an undisclosed fee on deadline day of January, 2022.
Signed by Liam Manning, Smith’s early season form last year was good enough to get him to the World Cup in Qatar.
Appearances under Mark Jackson were few and far between post-Qatar, though.
He took charge in December and didn’t give Smith a single league start, only bringing him off the bench on six occasions.
And now former Motherwell boss, Graham Alexander, has let Smith leave as he seeks to bring MK Dons up from League Two following their relegation a few months ago.
MK Dons’ Spoony
Like David Wotherspoon with St Johnstone, Smith was the first ever MK Dons player to earn World Cup selection.
Unlike Wotherspoon, he didn’t get game-time.
Smith reflected: “The whole experience was fantastic. It would have been nicer had results gone better and I’d got some minutes but as an experience, and to say I’ve been part of a World Cup is special to me.”
All-round central midfielder
So what style of player is Saints’ new signing.
“Tenacious” is a word that comes up a lot over the course of his career.
When Hull secured him on loan, their manager Grant McCann said: “Matt is a very busy and energetic midfield player, but also a very good character.
“He loves to get on the ball and pass forward. He can play either as a number eight or a number six and suits our style of play.”
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