Bart DHanis
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The Athletic knows what's going on with Tyrell Malacia. The Dutch left back has played less than a minute for Manchester United this season and has been the subject of many rumours. The Athletic has made a timeline of Malacia's season in an extensive article.
In the preseason, Manchester United announced that Malacia would not travel to the training camp. The former Feyenoord player acted as a stand-in for the injury-prone Luke Shaw last season, but suffered from meniscus problems towards the end of the season.
It was then decided to operate on Malacia's knee in the summer of 2023. Manchester United wanted the left leg to undergo surgery in London, but the player preferred to recuperate in the Netherlands and had surgery in his native country. Outside the club's supervision.
Malacia's visit to the Netherlands last summer has raised questions among Manchester United's medical staff. The defender did not say anything and the club wonders whether the correct procedures were followed.
Sources close to Malacia point the finger at the club. According to them, the club's medical staff was not always able to give him enough attention.
An anonymous source confirmed the news: “The injury list was so long, sometimes other players were given priority so that they could quickly return to the field.”
After the summer, Malacia returned to Manchester, where he resumed on-field training in October. Before the Champions League match against FC Copenhagen, he was spotted by the English media at the training complex. Doctors at the club assured Erik ten Hag that he would return to the selection in January.
However, things went wrong again for Malacia in December. A scan showed that pieces of cartilage fragments were still visible around the meniscus. Malacia was presented with two options: continue and hope that the cartilage will recover on its own, or go under the knife again.
There is no guarantee that the cartilage would recover on its own, so it was decided in December to operate on Malacia again. This operation was performed by the same doctor in the Netherlands, but this time under the supervision of Manchester United.
Manchester United communicated that Malacia had suffered a setback in his recovery and that the 17 million euro purchase had been re-operated. The player could return to action 'early 2024'. That assessment turned out to be too optimistic: in all likelihood he will not play at all this season.
Yet Malacia is now finally on the way back. He is training with an external expert in Barcelona, the Netherlands and Manchester and is approaching the final stages of his recovery. He can resume group training in a few weeks. He will probably only play a match in preparation for next season.
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