Man Utd humiliated as it emerges Erik ten Hag transfer left Wales camp ‘astonished’ | Football | Sport

Erik ten Hag‘s move for Tyrell Malacia last summer reportedly left the Welsh National team « astonished » after identifying him as a weak link in the Netherlands camp ahead of a pair of fixtures against Oranje in 2022.

In June of last year, Wales took on the Netherlands in two Nations League games. According to the Athletic, pre-match preparations revolved around playing the ball out wide to right winger Brennan Johnson in order to exploit a « lack of physical presence » possessed by Holland’s left wing-back Malacia.

Wales would go on to lose both matches by narrow margins but found success down the right-hand side via Johnson. The Tottenham star, then plying his trade for Nottingham Forest, was able to wriggle free of his opposing full-back on multiple occasions and even managed to grab a goal during a 3-2 defeat on June 14.

It therefore came as a great surprise among Wales’ squad when Manchester United paid Feyenoord £13million for Malacia a few weeks later. The 24-year-old’s time at Old Trafford has been marred by injuries.

Malacia returned to Carrington training centre at the back end of last month to complete some light ball work as he continues his road to recovery. However, the Dutchman is still training individually at the time of writing.

The Manchester Evening News reports that Malacia’s absence is due to a knee injury he picked up last season, that required surgery. It’s understood the club initially looked to manage the issue with pain injections but surgery was required over the summer.

After featuring 21 times in the Premier League for the Red Devils in his inaugural campaign Malacia picked up a serious injury in July that has kept him out of action for the past four months. Unfortunately for Ten Hag, Malacia’s injury came at the worst possible time with first-choice left-back Luke Shaw pulling up with a muscular issue one month later.

The injury crisis at full-back left United scrambling for a loan signing in the summer as Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon made the switch to Old Trafford on deadline day.