Tyrell Malacia is Man Utd's new Patrice Evra
Karan Tejwani
- 16 Sept 2022 10:50 BST
- 3 min read
New Manchester United left-back Tyrell Malacia has made an excellent start to life at Old Trafford and has been receiving praise all over for his performances.
The Dutchman played against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League at both left-back and right-back and did well in both areas, earning plaudits for his display.
This follows up a fine start to his career at Old Trafford, where he has seemingly displaced Luke Shaw as the team’s first-choice left-back and earned Erik ten Hag’s full trust.
Now, former Manchester United players are comparing him to club greats such as Patrice Evra, believing Malacia can emulate the legendary Frenchman in the coming years.
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High praise for Malacia
Malacia joined from Feyenoord over the summer and was Ten Hag’s first signing at the club, and after Shaw’s poor start to the season, the Dutchman took over in the team and has kept his spot.
Former Manchester United player Paul Parker believes Malacia now has the chance to emulate previous club greats and that he has a while to do so.
“His age gives him the opportunity to really grab it and with the good left-backs they’ve had over the years he stands the best chance of anybody to go out there and for him to be talked about like people did with Evra and Irwin
“The years they’ve spent at Manchester United and what they achieved. He’s definitely one that is growing into at this moment in time.
Malacia’s game by numbers vs. Sheriff:
100% cross accuracy
94% pass accuracy
59 passes completed
3 tackles won
1 interception
1 block
1 key pass
And he can play RB… 😍 pic.twitter.com/IrDbz2WRAb— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) September 15, 2022
“He is the certified number one left-back for Manchester United and could be that for the next many years,” Parker concluded as he was full of praise for Malacia.
He’s not the first person to heap such praise on Malacia, with Rio Ferdinand doing the same last month following Manchester United’s first win of the season over Liverpool.
"Malacia today was tremendous, outstanding. He reminds me of Patrice Evra in many ways. He’s athletic, he looks like a pound-for-pound strong kid.
"There aren’t many left-backs in European or world football in the last four or five years who have gone out of a game and kept Mohamed Salah quiet. Luke Shaw’s going to have to do something to get back in this team now."
Ten Hag took a gamble this summer by signing so many players from the Eredivisie, but it’s one that is paying off so far and he is hoping it can continue into the future.
