One of Manchester United’s new summer recruits, whose initial contribution has been swept under the carpet in recent weeks, is Tyrell Malasia.
The arrival of the Dutchman was not filled with the usual excitement and happened so quickly that the fans were left in shock. But the Feyenoord fullback was a special request from Eric ten Haag, who has been a big fan since Ajax.
And although his start was slow, he soon demonstrated his abilities on the field and made five consecutive starts in the Premier League after the horror show of Luke Shaw in the first two games.
But a disappointing game against Manchester City saw him lose his place and since then he has had to deal with one appearance in an unfamiliar right-back position in the league.
Malasia was initially solid
In addition to heroism on the field, Malasia helped the Show a lot to regain hunger and appetite. He kept pushing the Englishman, who consistently brought out the best in the Show.
He has also demonstrated his versatility by playing right-back a couple of times and even playing as a central defender for his national team.
To succeed, every club needs such team players who are willing to sacrifice for the good of the team and never complain about the cards they have to deal with.
Got to say fair play to this lad.
Never started a game before the WC, even when he was available Erik played Malacia RB vs Fulham.
The boy didn’t complain, or even say a bad word. Kept on training hard every single day & is now delivering to a high standard. Team player.👏 pic.twitter.com/GeoxgxPxHj
— 𝗧𝗲𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗴’𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘀 ✍🏼🇳🇱 (@TenHagBall_) December 28, 2022
Ten Hag spoke about his love for players who have the positional understanding and discipline to occupy multiple positions in the team.
Despite the fact that the 23-year-old was selected in the Netherlands national team for the World Cup, he did not play a single minute and returned to the club fresh.
He started in both post-World Cup matches for United in his favoured left-back position and impressed with his ferocious play.
And the Dutch fullback told how unpleasant it was to stay out of the starting lineup.
Malasia changes the situation both on the field and in training
“Of course, it’s difficult when you’re not given minutes,” he told ViaPlay, transmitted by Voetbal Primeur.
“You keep hoping in every game and do your best in training. You try to support the team as much as possible, but it’s definitely difficult.
“I want to play every game, so yeah, it’s definitely hard when you sit for so many weeks and don’t play. Of course, I had a moment when I was done for a while.
“But you always need to recover. You never know if you should be there. You should always be ready.”
Malasia has played a total of 17 matches in all competitions, starting with 14 of them. Not the worst statistics in the debut season in the Premier League.
And now that he’s back, I hope Malasia can bring the Show to an end, which can only be a positive thing for United in the future.
