If someone started supporting Manchester United from the 2023/24 season onwards, they can’t be faulted for not even knowing who Tyrell Malacia is. The Dutchman who joined the Red Devils in 2022 from Feyenoord has become a forgotten figure at Old Trafford.
Malacia’s last game played for United was the final match of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign, a 2-1 win over Fulham.
Since then, he has not played a single minute of competitive football for Erik Ten Hag’s side.
Now, while the Red Devils have had a horrible injury crisis plaguing the club all season long, no senior player has missed the entire campaign itself.
Mason Mount has missed many months of action after getting injured in November. Lisandro Martinez has suffered multiple injury set-backs that have restricted him to 10 appearances.
The same issue has plagued Luke Shaw too. But at least even these injury-prone players have played some minutes, unlike Malacia – whose disappearance is starting to spooking people out.
Fans React to Tyrell Malacia Going Missing
Malacia became a pretty likeable figure with his performances for Erik ten Hag’s side last season. His dedicated demeanor and energy helped him compete with Shaw and impress the fans.
However, a player who was so active on the pitch and even on social media last season, has gone missing in action this time around.
In fact, the Dutchman was not even seen in a recent team dinner organized by United at The Ivy Manchester. This was to improve the ‘bonding’ between the players ahead of the FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool. Almost every first-team star was there, apart from Malacia and a few other injured players like Shaw and Anthony Martial.
Even on social media, he has been surprisingly quiet. Malacia’s last tweet was on July 15, 2023 where he ‘proved’ himself joining pre-season training. He didn’t play a single minute in pre-season. His last Instagram post was on July 11 and his last liked tweet was on May 25.
Malacia’s ‘disappearance’ has caused some members of Football Twitter to freak out and bring in all the conspiracy theories. The logical theory that many claim is that he’s just suffering from some rare, horrible injury that is keeping him from playing football. Then, there are the over-the-top ones.
What Has Been Said of Malacia’s Disappearance
Manchester United provided an ‘official’ update on the Dutchman’s injury issues in December last year. In a statement, they confirmed that the 24-year-old was recovering from a knee injury suffered at the end of the 22/23 season.
He had to undergo surgery for the same and needed many months to recover the same. In the statement, United stated that Malacia was expected to be back in action ‘early next year’ – hinting at January or February.
However, out of nowhere, Ten Hag hinted that Malacia might not play any football this season in a recent update – “I think it’s going to be difficult for this season to be available. He will fight, he’s back on the pitch, but not in the team and the process had some setbacks and is still going really slowly forward, and the season is going to an end.”
At this point, it seems unlikely that Malacia will play any part this season. With United needing every player at 100% match fitness, the Dutchman can’t bring that after not playing for nearly a year.
With that being said, despite all the theories over his ‘disappearance’ – it seems the fact is that Malacia is just opting to stay under the radar and avoiding the media chatter as he tries to bounce back from what has been a difficult 10 months or so for the defender.