Tyrell Malacia officially returns from a 17-month injury layoff at Manchester United

Manchester United left-back Tyrell Malacia made his first appearance in 17 months of no football for the U21s against Huddersfield in the EFL trophy. The Dutchman has had numerous injury issues that kept him sidelined for a season and a half,but he's finally returned to the pitch in a 4-1 defeat to the EFL League One outfit.

Malacia gained some match fitness, featuring for 45 minutes before being replaced by talented youngster Harry Amass. The 25-year-old will be delighted to have the feel of the pitch once again, where once reports suggested that the left-back was even considering retirement from football due to the severity of his injury.

The former Feyenoord full-back missed an astonishing 70 games for Manchester United and has been sidelined through injury for almost 485 days since the start of the 23/24 season. His last game for the club was 534 days ago against Fulham in the Premier League, and he has not featured since then. A serious knee injury proved far worse and complicated than initially thought and needed surgery two times, per BBC Sport. He was planning to make a comeback in February, but that also had to be scrapped. He had only made 39 appearances for the club since being signed in the 22/23 season when the now-departed Erik ten Hag took over as manager. 

Left Back Position, A Curse For Manchester United? 

The return of Malacia will be a huge boost to Manchester United and new head coach Ruben Amorim who will be in the dugout right after the international break against Ipswich Town (November 24). Another name returning from injury that would delight fans is Luke Shaw, who is also back in training where he was seen meeting up with Amorim and his staff at Carrington. The left-back position has been cursed for the club recently.

Shaw‘s already injury-plagued United career, where he had missed more than ten games through injury every season for the past 12 years except in two campaigns, his debut season for the club when he missed nine games through an ankle injury and in the 22/23 campaign where he appeared to be in peak fitness and missed just three games a whole season and was one of the best left backs in the world, that’s severely unlucky. Both returned just in time for the start of a new era at Old Trafford , where the Portuguese coach favors a 3-4-3 formation using wingbacks. This means that the availability of both Shaw and Malacia could be pivotal for the Red Devils and the 39-year-old‘s tactical setup.