John Pantsil has heaped praise on young Fulham centre back Chris Smalling after his impressive European debut in Sofia last night.
The Ghana international says Smalling, with only a few minutes of Premier League action behind him before the Europa League clash last night, took a massive step forward in terms of his development with a composed performance in Fulham’s 1-1 draw with the Bulgarian league leaders.
Pantsil was very impressed with his young team-mate.
Chris was fantastic. He is definitely a player to watch in the future. I was talking to him throughout the game and he listened. He made some good passes, some good tackles, and he won the ball in the air. You couldn’t tell it was his first game.
Fulham’s right back was also pleased with the character of what was an inexperienced side.
There were some young boys out there, but they showed a lot of character.