Manchester United were given the biggest jolt before the season even began when Ruben Amorim consigned five players to alienation from the rest of the squad.
The “bomb squad”, borrowed from Chelsea in some aspects, consisted of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, and Tyrell Malacia.
Some are there after burning bridges with the club, while others are simply not in Ruben Amorim’s plans. Either way, their future lies away from Man Utd.
Rashford has already got his Barcelona move, but the other four remain. One player out of these four has now been tipped to become ‘lonely’ since he’ll be the last to leave.
Lonely last from Man Utd’s bomb squad
The speed at which Rashford’s move to Barcelona developed has left Man Utd fans hopeful that some movement will be seen with others as well.
Jadon Sancho is generating a lot of noise, mostly from Juventus, while Antony seems like a matter of when, and not if, he will join Real Betis.
Thus, Garnacho and Malacia remain, but transfer insider Graeme Bailey, speaking on Beyond the Back Four podcast on YouTube, has said one player is generating the least noise.
He said: “Juventus keen on Sancho, Comoli thinks it can be done. On Antony, Betis are working hard to get it done. Malacia is a player who might be the last one to leave; he might get lonely.
“Garnacho wants to stay in England. Chelsea, Tottenham, and Villa are all monitoring him. Chelsea could move for Rogers, and Villa might get Jackson. Merry-go-round in swing. Only one with the least noise is Malacia. Man Utd are making good progress [except for Malacia].”
Tyrell Malacia is an unfortunate casualty of circumstances
Unlike Sancho, Rashford, or Garnacho, Malacia has become an unfortunate casualty of circumstances at Old Trafford, most of which were outside his control.
He was a solid backup in his debut season despite arriving for a modest fee, and a freak injury never really allowed him to reach those levels again.
Once Ruben Amorim came in, again, outside his control, the left wing-back spot was never really going to be his due to the physical demands that role requires.
Even a return to his home country made it clear that he is not the same player he was before his injury, and the situation United are in, they just can’t afford to wait and see if they get that player back again.
For his part, the full-back has never made negative headlines or tried to disrupt the dressing room. In many ways, alienating him along with the other four is the least understandable.
However, Amorim’s logic would simply be that there’s no point planning with the player who won’t be here at the start of September.
Malacia’s United career will be remembered as that of a willing backup who shone when he was at his best, but was robbed of a potentially fruitful time at the club due to factors beyond his control.
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