Tyrell Malacia was subjected to many a conspiracy theory as he stayed away from the footballing limelight altogether last season.
Well, he’s back now, and he’s opening up about his recent hardship.
Tyrell Malacia opens up about his long absence
Speaking to The Athletic in what was his first interview since returning from his long-term absence, Man United left-back Tyrell Malacia addressed the issues that plagued him during his time out.
“We spoke to the guy who did my [first knee] surgery and then we made the decision: we had to do something else. I had to start my rehab over, basically… I had one day to be disappointed.
“Then I had to be like, ‘OK, we go again’. I think at the end of the day, everything I did, even if it was a mistake or something, I won’t even see it as a mistake because it’s a lesson.
“I think everything in life is already written for me. I had to go through this whole process to be where I’m at now, so I wouldn’t do anything different.
“You can ask the guys at the club — every time I came in, even though I was feeling s***, sometimes they were like, ‘Oh, your energy is so good, you give me energy again… how is he still smiling, or how is he still working after this and this happened to him?’.”
“Of course, I’ve had some moments where I was like, ‘Oh, I’m getting tired of this’ but there’s no way I could ever give up. It’s not my system, it’s not in our family.”
“No, nothing was true [when asked about the conspiracy theories regarding his long absence]. No, no, I’ve just been doing my rehab. Especially when I was in Holland, I was close to my family — so just training, family, sleeping; training, family, sleeping. The only thing I’ve done.
“First of all, I’m not really a guy who’s on social media a lot. If it wasn’t my cousin or my mum sending me this, I wouldn’t even know. Most of the time, a week after I’d find out they were saying this or that.
“As long as my family and I know I’m good, it’s enough. The most important thing is that I know I’m good. People were saying are you not worried or don’t want to say anything, especially friends around me, because other people were asking them because they couldn’t get through to me.
“They were asking me, ‘Don’t you want to say something publicly?’ I was like, ‘No, because I’m not on the internet a lot, I don’t get all this information. If you guys didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t even know.”
Malacia, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
The knee injury Malacia had sustained during the 2023/24 pre-season knocked him out for the entirety of the campaign. He only recently returned to playing football as he featured in the U21 Man United side that lost 4-1 to Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy.
The Netherlands international still has a year and a half remaining on his £75k-per-week Man United contract.
Still a long road ahead
For a lay man it’s unimaginable how hard rehab must be for professional footballers after sustaining injuries of such nature, so one only wish Malacia well and hope that he slowly manages to regain long-term fitness and is able to play out a full professional career at the senior level.
United, on the other hand, have a problem. Luke Shaw has been injury-prone ever since his horrible leg break of the 2015/16 season, and Malacia’s return needs to be handled with a lot of care. With both their out-and-out left-backs being fragile at best, the Red Devils have had to use Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui out wide, but that is not a sustainable solution either.
United are going to have to get a left-back in when January comes around—be it from the academy setup or from the outside. Malacia, meanwhile, needs to focus on his fitness while he tries to make a case for himself under Rúben Amorim.
