Just a few weeks again, it seemed like Feyenoord’s and Dutch 22-year-old attacking left-back Tyrell Malacia was all however sure to make a permanent move to French club Lyon earlier than information broke early final week of Manchester United hijacking the deal to carry the extremely promising younger defender to the Theatre of Desires.
In a deal value €15m plus €2m in add-ons confirmed by the Red Devils yesterday, Malacia put pen to paper on a 4-year take care of the choice of an extra 12 months. A reported Erik ten Hag goal who wished him when he was Ajax supervisor, it will seem that the brand new United boss lastly received his man as Malacia turns into the primary arrival of the Dutchman’s managerial reign on the membership.
Who’s Tyrell Malacia?
Tyrell Malacia is of course a full-back by commerce, primarily lining up on the left flank the place he performed for Feyenoord and the Netherlands Nationwide workforce. Grabbing his first senior debut within the Champions League for Feyenoord in 2017, Malacia performed all 90 minutes as his facet cruised to a 2-1 victory over Italian giants Napoli at De Kuip.
The highly-rated younger full-back took a large step in his improvement with Feyenoord final marketing campaign, making 50 appearances in all competitions for the Dutch outfit, serving to them attain the Europa Convention ultimate, the place he was named within the competitors’s Staff of the Event. Incomes himself the nickname “pitbull” attributable to his tenacious and aggressive shows, Tyrell Malacia completed his breakthrough marketing campaign with Feyenoord with a objective and 5 assists to his title in all competitions.
Malacia’s fashion of play
The brand new Manchester United man is technically and bodily gifted. These are among the qualities that will have endeared him to Erik ten Hag, who may even see him as a competitor and eventual alternative for Luke Shaw within the left-back place. Whereas nonetheless uncooked in his fashion of play, that is typical of a participant his age and one thing that may be honed and refined additional to help him in his improvement in the direction of changing into world-class in his place. Malacia excels at overlapping, a high quality that permits him to be deployed as an inverted attacking machine.
He’s robust, highly effective and intensely bodily. These mix completely for a participant trying to thrive each within the Premier League and in an Erik ten Hag system. The Dutch full-back has a blistering tempo that allows him to quickly react to hazard conditions in addition to stretch opposition strains from a deep-lying place.
His tempo additionally turns out to be useful throughout transitions as he possesses the lightning velocity required to get again into place and execute defensive actions. He’s purposeful and intentional in his attacking actions, equivalent to driving into attacking areas each on and off the ball. He possesses the flexibility to make extraordinarily clever runs which Erik ten Hag calls for of his full-backs.
Malacia is properly versed in drifting inside and getting concerned in open play. This is able to render him invaluable to Ten Hag and the system he needs to implement at Outdated Trafford as a result of reality he likes one in all his full-backs to remain excessive and large, with the opposite becoming a member of the midfield as an additional man. He makes runs from deep which forces the opposition to commit out large, just like Manchester Metropolis’s Joao Cancelo.
The latest arrival at Manchester United is a really robust one-on-one defender who’s extraordinarily arduous to beat due to his acceleration and restoration tempo but in addition of his engagement of wingers in large positions. His athleticism is central to all his defensive strengths and areas he excels at within the again.
Weaknesses in Malacia’s fashion of play
Whereas Malacia remains to be typically good when it comes to his defensive positioning, that is an space of weak spot of his. He’s typically caught out of place, particularly throughout defensive transitions. That is one thing that the United defence was poor in final season. Tyrell Malacia closely depends on his explosive velocity and last-ditch actions to make up for his occasional poor defensive positioning. That is a side of Malacia’s sport that Erik ten Hag and his teaching workers ought to look to enhance.
The previous Feyenoord full-back can also be irritating at occasions with regard to attacking positions he chooses to obtain the ball in. Nonetheless, you will need to word that this isn’t one thing that stands proud as a weak spot about his sport, however one value bettering on as he transcends right into a extra bodily and faster league.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it’s clear that Manchester United have gotten a promising participant of their arms with the potential, uncooked expertise, means and talent set to turn into among the finest in his commerce. At 22 years previous, they’re getting not solely among the finest full-backs within the making but in addition one in all Feyenoord’s most significant gamers of their title problem, through which they only fell quick to Ajax, who received the Eredivisie. With the proper steerage and training, which he ought to get underneath Erik ten Hag, Malacia actually has the potential to take his sport to the subsequent stage and, within the course of, set up himself as a starter for United.
