Tyrell Malacia's Journey: From Manchester United to FC Cincinnati
Tyrell Malacia leans back in his chair in Cincinnati and smiles. No bitterness. No what-ifs. No anger about the months spent on the fringes at Manchester United, training with teenagers while his peers chased trophies and Champions League nights.
“I wouldn’t regret anything, not one bit,” he says. And you believe him.
From Old Trafford hope to MLS restart
Two years ago, Malacia looked like a pillar of United’s future. Signed from Feyenoord for £13m in 2022, the Dutch left-back burst into Erik ten Hag’s first season, playing 39 games across all competitions and bringing a snarl and intensity to United’s left side that supporters instantly warmed to.
That was the high point. It came fast. It disappeared even quicker.
Across the next three seasons, he played only 11 more times for the club.
His body gave way first. At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he felt a nagging discomfort in his left knee. He tried to run it off, then tried to rest it away. Neither worked. He flew back to the Netherlands for surgery. The recovery went wrong. A second operation followed. A year and a half vanished.
By the time he returned, United had moved on. So had the man in charge.
Amorim, exile and the ‘bomb squad’
Malacia’s comeback arrived quietly, far from the Premier League spotlight, in an EFL Trophy defeat at Huddersfield for United’s Under-21s. Ten Hag had been dismissed. Ruben Amorim now sat in the manager’s chair.
“I had a good first season and then I had my injury,” Malacia says. “I don’t want to talk too much about it, but certain things happened in my rehab.
“Ruben came in when I just got back from my injury. He gave me a couple of games, but I had come back after a year and a half. Imagine not playing for a year and a half and adapting to everything, especially in the best league in the world and playing for such a big club. It takes time.
“As a player you need to understand if you play for a big club like Manchester United, sometimes you don’t get the time.”
He did get eight appearances under Amorim before being loaned to PSV Eindhoven for the second half of the 2024-25 season. It was a lifeline, but not a full one.
“Even at that time I still wasn’t 100%, but it was good for me to get game time and adapting to the game,” he says. “After that period of six months, I came back in summer I thought ‘OK, now it’s going happen, I’m going to get a fair chance’.”
The opposite happened.
Just before pre-season, United announced that Malacia, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony would train away from Amorim’s main squad. They were effectively placed in a ‘bomb squad’, told they could leave if suitable offers arrived.
The others moved on. Malacia did not.
No one ever really explained why he was there. Those around the club insisted he was not a disruptive presence, not a dressing-room problem. Yet he found himself exiled at Carrington, training with the Under-21s, then, at his own request, dropping down to sessions with the Under-18s and Under-17s just to stay sharp.
“I don’t know where that came from, I don’t know if it was Ruben or higher up or anything, but I never said anything about it, I just kept working and doing my thing even though it was difficult sometimes training in a group of five,” he says.
“At some point Marcus, Garnacho and even Antony left. Then I stayed on my own, training with the second team, even with the under-18s and below. It’s tough. It’s tough mentally.
“I could have said ‘OK, I’m not coming into training’. But I thought ‘that’s not going to help me’. It’s a reason for them to say ‘this is the reason you are with them or training on your own’. I just kept my head down and did the work.
“I always stayed fit since I came back from my injury, but people didn’t know that. They were like ‘why is he not playing?’.”
Fit, ready – and stuck
By November 2024, Malacia insists he was fully fit. The outside world barely noticed. He was a name on a wage bill, not on a teamsheet.
He eventually returned to Amorim’s matchday squads at the end of September 2025. He was on the bench for the 25 October game against Brighton and stayed in contention from 24 November onwards. The minutes were token: two at home to Newcastle on Boxing Day, five in the return at St James’ Park on 5 March, a farewell cameo at Brighton on 24 May.
Behind the scenes, the situation grew more complicated. Michael Carrick arrived in a senior role and, for a brief moment, it looked like a way out.
“I had a good conversation with Michael when he came,” Malacia says. “Obviously, I wanted to leave, then some injuries came so I couldn’t leave because of the numbers in the squad.
“That was difficult to accept. I was like ‘I’m not going to play but I’m not allowed to leave so what’s the point of me staying here’. Then he explained to me.
“At the end of the day everybody is there for themselves. I’m there for myself obviously in the first place and then obviously the team but also the manager is there for himself, he needs to save his job or do his job well.
“Still, I don’t regret anything. I had a great time in my first season and the people who worked there and the players I met there were amazing, so, nah, I really enjoyed my time.”
New life, same edge
His United contract expired in the summer. No fanfare. No farewell video. Just a line on a retained list and a defender in need of a new home.
He found it in Ohio.
Now 27, Malacia is rebuilding at FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer. He is not here for a holiday. He is here to play.
His start in their 2-1 win over DC United on 21 October was more significant than it looked. It marked the first time he had started four consecutive games since September 2022, the opening weeks of that first, vibrant season at Old Trafford.
“I’m able to [play] now and consistently, so I’m happy,” he says. “This opportunity came on my path and the people I spoke with were very positive. That gave me a good feeling.”
He is keen to stress the point that some still miss: he has been physically ready for a long time.
The difference now is opportunity.
FC Cincinnati sit eighth in the Eastern Conference with four regular-season games to go. The top nine reach the play-offs. It is a tight squeeze, the kind of pressure run-in that suits a player who has lived with scrutiny at Old Trafford, De Kuip and the Philips Stadion.
“I’ve played for Man Utd, I’ve played for Feyenoord, I’ve played for PSV, so I have a lot of experience,” he says. “I want to bring that to the club. I want to bring my energy, I want to bring my quality.
“If you come into the play-offs, at the end of the day, it’s all finals. The one that shows up the best that day is going to go through till the end.
“The more games for me, the better. I’ve been out for so long now, I just want to play as many games as possible.”
He has signed on for the 2027 ‘sprint season’, with an option to stay for 2027-28, when MLS will finally align with the European calendar. By then, Cincinnati will know exactly what kind of player they have: not the kid from Feyenoord breaking through, not the United full-back fighting his body, but a defender who has lived the brutal side of elite football and come out still wanting the ball.
No regrets, he insists. Just minutes to chase, and a play-off run to shape.
