Former Manchester United defender Tyrell Malacia has made a surprise admission about his time at the club.
United stint
Malacia departed United permanently last summer upon the expiry of his contract.
He joined United from Feyenoord in July 2022, as the first signing of the Erik ten Hag era. Malacia made 50 first-team appearances in total for the Red Devils.
His first spell at the club was his best, during which he played 39 times as United secured Champions League football and won the Carabao Cup.
However, his progress was disrupted by a devastating injury that sidelined him for several months. When he returned, Ten Hag was gone and Ruben Amorim was in the dugout. Malacia found opportunities extremely hard to come by under Amorim.
Michael Carrick was in charge when Malacia left. He is now rebuilding his career in the MLS with FC Cincinnati.
Malacia spoke to BBC Sport and made it clear that he harbours no regrets whatsoever about his time at United. He also opened up on what really happened behind the scenes when he returned from injury.
Frank admission
The Dutchman said, “I wouldn’t regret anything, not one bit. Even if I could do it over, I would do the same thing because otherwise I wouldn’t be the man I am now.”
“I had a good first season and then I had my injury. I don’t want to talk too much about it, but certain things happened in my rehab.”
“Ruben came in when I just got back from my injury. He gave me a couple of games, but I had come back after a year and a half. Imagine not playing for a year and a half and adapting to everything, especially in the best league in the world and playing for such a big club. It takes time.”
“As a player you need to understand if you play for a big club like Manchester United, sometimes you don’t get the time.”
He said of his PSV Eindhoven loan spell for the second half of the 2024/25 season, “Even at that time I still wasn’t 100%, but it was good for me to get game time and adapting to the game. After that period of six months, I came back in summer I thought ‘OK, now it’s going happen, I’m going to get a fair chance. ‘
Sadly for Malacia, the opportunity never came. He found himself as part of Amorim’s infamous ‘bomb squad’ alongside the likes of Antony, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Alejandro Garnacho.
It was especially puzzling for Malacia, given that there was no perception of him as a bad apple. Nonetheless, he dug in and did not complain, even though he was made to train with the youth teams.
“I don’t know where that came from, I don’t know if it was Ruben or higher up or anything, but I never said anything about it, I just kept working and doing my thing even though it was difficult sometimes training in a group of five.”
“At some point Marcus, Garnacho and even Antony left. Then I stayed on my own, training with the second team, even with the under-18s and below. It’s tough. It’s tough mentally. I could have said ‘OK, I’m not coming into training’. But I thought ‘that’s not going to help me’. It’s a reason for them to say ‘this is the reason you are with them or training on your own’. I just kept my head down and did the work.”
“I always stayed fit since I came back from my injury, but people didn’t know that. They were like ‘why is he not playing?'”
Malacia went on, “I had a good conversation with Michael [Carrick] when he came. Obviously, I wanted to leave, then some injuries came so I couldn’t leave because of the numbers in the squad.”
“That was difficult to accept. I was like ‘I’m not going to play but I’m not allowed to leave so what’s the point of me staying here’. Then he explained to me. At the end of the day everybody is there for themselves. I’m there for myself obviously in the first place and then obviously the team but also the manager is there for himself, he needs to save his job or do his job well.”
“Still, I don’t regret anything. I had a great time in my first season and the people who worked there and the players I met there were amazing, so, nah, I really enjoyed my time.”
Malacia is focused on the future and believes he has plenty to contribute, given his considerable experience in the Dutch league and the Premier League. He indicated his wish to play as many games as possible.
Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
