Tyrell Malacia has finally completed his move to Manchester Unite d in a deal thought to be worth £12.9m plus add-ons.
The 22-year-old, who made his senior Netherlands debut in 2021, enjoyed a strong campaign in the Eredivisie last season, playing a key role in Feyenoord’s third-place finish and journey to reach the inaugural Europa Conference League final.
Following the announcement, United's director of football, John Murtough, described Malacia as an “exciting, dynamic young footballer”.
Murtough added that Malacia has "excellent experience for his age, including five seasons in the Eredivisie, a European final and full international honours for the Netherlands.
"We look forward to seeing him continue to develop under the guidance of Erik ten Hag and his coaching team in the years ahead. Everyone at Manchester United welcomes Tyrell to the club.”
Despite the obvious excitement at Malacia’s arrival, there’s also a sense of the unknown with the left-back, with many United fans unaware of his current ability or what type of player he is.
One of the first things that will stand out to United fans when watching Malacia at Old Trafford next season is his athleticism. It’s essential in the modern game that wing-backs can offer end-to-end coverage, and the 22-year-old certainly has the engine to help him achieve that.
His athleticism also feeds into his standout defensive ability. He’s quick and strong, both of which make him tough to overcome in one against one battles. His defensive duel success rate of 66.55 per cent ranked within the Eredivisie’s top ten left-backs who played over 1000 minutes last season. He also ranked within the top eight of that group in terms of aerial duels won, despite standing at an unremarkable 5ft7in.
Although a wing-back's primary job is to defend, and Malacia has shown he can do that, it’s also just as important that they can offer a sizeable attacking threat down the flanks too.
At a glance, Malacia’s return of just two league assists last season looks rather fairly average. Yet the same doesn’t tell the whole story. There were after all only three left-backs from that aforementioned list who accumulated a higher Expected Assist (xA) total than the 22-year-old (3.42). That’s particularly impressive given he wasn’t the team’s regular set-piece taker.
There were also only four left-backs who averaged more progressive runs per 90 (2.56) than United’s newest recruit.
All of the above paints a favourable picture of Malacia, and there’s a sense that he’s got the potential to really challenge Luke Shaw next season while also most likely sealing Alex Telles’ fate with many predicting the Brazilian could now end up leaving the club.
The obvious caveat to the numbers above though is that they came in a competition inferior to the Premier League. Replicating the same in the much tougher environment of England’s top tier often proves the biggest obstacle to overcome in these sorts of transfers.
Time will tell as to whether the youngster will manage to adjust to the demands of the Premier League, however no matter the outcome, United officials will take some comfort in that the deal is a relatively low risk given the fee paid, which is not something they’ve been able to say too often in recent years.
