New Manchester United recruit Tyrell Malacia has lifted the lid on what manager Erik ten Hag is expecting from him this season.
The former Ajax man followed Ten Hag to Old Trafford and officially joined the club earlier this month in a deal worth a reported £15million. Discussing the move, the left-sided defender stated that it was his former coach who played an "important role" in his decision to go to Old Trafford.
He said: “I spoke with him (Ten Hag) a lot, two, three times. We had some good conversations about football, about me, about him and how he sees me, which was important for me to join the club.”
When it came to discussing his role in the team, Malacia was asked whether it was an aim of his to be like an extra midfielder in possession for his side. “Yes that’s the aim,” the 22-year-old told Sky Sports. “It’s what the coach wanted from me at my former club and I play the same style now. For me it’s easy to get in this system.”
Full-backs and wing-backs taking on hybrid roles has been a more common occurrence in the Premier League in recent times, especially since the arrival of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp at Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.
Both like to utilise technically-gifted players in Joao Cancelo and Trent Alexander-Arnold to play non-conventional roles that often see them operating at both full-back and midfield in the same game.
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Each of those two sides will usually play variations of a 4-3-3 formation, but when building from the back, the defensive four shifts into a back three, with Cancelo or Alexander-Arnold moving into central midfield to support the deepest midfielder.
This creates a solid five-man structure, built as a three and then two without the ball. With that shape in place centrally, wide attackers can maintain width while spare players can support the attack by occupying spaces that appear within the opposition's stretched defensive structure. The same can also lead to numerical overloads in the middle, depending on the opposition's set-up.
Given the technical skill of Cancelo and Alexander-Arnold, they’ll often be the primary targets for passes in build-up play, with their capacity to play a wide range of progressive and dangerous balls key for their sides.
Although Malacia may not boast the extraordinary distribution ability of Alexander-Arnold or Cancelo, he has shown from his time in Eredivisie that he is a strong passer of the ball and more than capable of playing a wide range of deliveries into dangerous attacking areas - the defender had a pass success rate of above 85 per cent last season with Ajax.
His defensive prowess also means when the ball is turned over, he’s on hand to help break up opposition counter-attacks and sweep up second balls in the midfield. While his role may not be a carbon copy of those two aforementioned Premier League stars, there are obvious parallels between how they play and how Ten Hag wants Malacia to play, suggesting the 22-year-old could have an important role at Old Trafford this season.
