Tyrell Malacia still has one major area of his game to improve despite excellent start

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Manchester United summer signing Tyrell Malacia has been one of the best signings of the 2022 transfer window

The £13 million addition from Feyenoord has displaced Luke Shaw as Manchester United’s left-back and has regularly been a standout performer.

Malacia’s tenacity, competitiveness, and ability to do exactly what manager Erik ten Hag wants tactically, has made him an important player in United’s new look backline.

The 23-year-old clearly has a bright future, but there is one area of his game he has to work on.

READ MORE: Confirmed Manchester United transfers, ins, outs, loans, releases for 2022/23

Malacia still has one major area to work on

The attacking side of Tyrell Malacia’s game has yet to really click into gear. No assists and no goals are easy to spot indicators of this.

But a deeper look at the statistics shows Malacia is not doing enough to create goalscoring chances either.

FBRef data for the Premier League season so far shows Malacia has not played a single successful pass into the opponents’ 18-yard box during his 406 minutes on the pitch.

It’s a limited sample size at this early stage, but let’s compare this to Diogo Dalot on the right side, the Portugal defender has played nine successful passes into the opposition penalty area, second only to Bruno Fernandes.

This was an area where Luke Shaw has previously excelled. Indeed in only 134 minutes of playing time, Shaw completed two passes into the opposition penalty box.

The first step for Malacia was to prove himself defensively. He has certainly done this, and he has helped the team get better as a whole.

The next step is for Malacia to start making an impact going forward. He is capable, delivering four assists for Feyenoord.

He has also demonstrated his capability for the Netherlands, delivering an inch-perfect cross for Wout Weghorst to head in a winner against Wales in June.

There is plenty of time for Malacia to kick on. To date he has been terrific. But there’s another level he can reach, once he begins to express himself more fully in an attacking sense.