S Poddar
Home supporters and the remainder of his teammates at Old Trafford held their breath in relief this week as Tyrell Malacia came back to competitive action for the first time since June 2023, when the Netherlands lost out to Croatia in the Nations League. Since then two knee surgeries meant that 25-year-old Dutchman had to sit out for an extremely lengthy period of 17 months.
Malacia’s loss is more bitter because he joined Old Trafford in 2022 with much promise, after graduating well at Feyenoord. He was signed for an initial £13 million and was expected to be one of the top picks in the Erik ten Hag queue. Sadly, Malacia never got the chance to really prove himself under ten Hag, who was relieved of duty in October last year.
It was this week, though, that things finally seemed to change a bit. Malacia returned to the pitch for Manchester United’s under-21 side in their EFL Trophy tie against Huddersfield Town. Though the Red Devils eventually lost 4-1, his performance was once again the former version of himself. The Dutch left-back looked sharp as he led a youngish back line by word of mouth in his 45 minutes before stepping off at the break as scheduled.
The return news of Malacia is holding the outpour of support from the faithful and the teammates alike at Manchester United. The club’s official Instagram posted a picture of Malacia back to the action, captioned, “SO good to see you back out there, Ty!”. Indeed, close friend Marcus Rashford echoed the same sentiment when he commented “Twinnn” with three love heart emojis. United captain Bruno Fernandes responded too, on his Instagram story, by commenting, “Happy to see you back.”
Caretaker manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was assistant at Manchester United with Malacia, has claimed that he already forecast this return, saying as recently as this week, “Tyrell is the furthest [along the road to recovery] in the moment. It’s good for him to plan game minutes, maybe in the under-21s.”
Then, with Malacia back on the pitch, all eyes are now on his further rehabilitation and potential return to the first team. The Red Devils, under the new manager, Ruben Amorim, go through a critical period, and a return from Malacia to fitness could be a valuable addition to their defensive options.
