Man Utd star will have had doubts over whether he would ever reach first team again, says ex-pro, ‘People don’t realise’

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Tyrell Malacia clocked up 61 minutes for Manchester United against Plzen and his comeback story deserves more credit.

Tyrell Malacia produced another solid performance for Manchester United, his third comeback since a lengthy lay-off.

Malacia played for just over an hour, following up a strong showing away at Arsenal, after a little bit of a shaky return against Bodo/Glimt.

The Dutchman is getting ‘better and better’, those were the words of teammate Bruno Fernandes.

Tyrell Malacia is back

Prior to his comeback, Tyrell Malacia’s last game for Manchester United came in the Europa League in early 2023 against Sevilla.

He missed the entire 2023/24 season, the 2024 pre-season, and the first few months of this campaign.

His return has been a welcome boost for Ruben Amorim, who has suffered a blow with Luke Shaw experiencing another injury.

Malacia described his injury nightmare as a difficult experience, with potential comeback dates getting pushed further and further back.

Speaking on MUTV, former prospect Ben Thornley praised the left-back’s mental strength, speculating he would have experienced some dark thoughts.

Thornley said: “There must have been thoughts in his head if he would ever play to this level, I know because I have been there before.”

Ben Thornley praises Malacia mental strength

Thornley believes Malacia is now primed to play a key role under Ruben Amorim, and is happy to see him checking off more and more milestones in his recovery.

He explained: “When you’re playing this sort of a system, the wing back is huge, an integral part of what you want to achieve. And Tyrell Malacia, who is left footed, he wants to play on that side.

“Absolute credit to him, obviously, for his physical recovery. It’s tough going through an injury like that, so it’s a bit of a mental battle, and it shows us his character.

“People don’t realise that, yes, you do have to get to a certain level physically, but to get to where you need there’s a there’s a lot of mental anguish that goes on in there training alone.

“Looking at your teammates going out, and taking part in in different competitions, and you can do nothing, other than just concentrate on what you’re doing, and it can be very hard.

“He’s worked extremely hard and he seems to have overcome that barrier. The final barrier for him would be, ‘how am I going to be when I play’, and he looks like with every game and with all the minutes that he that he gets under his belt, they’re [the doubts] starting to erode, as well so that’s brilliant.”