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WHAT HAPPENED?
The 24-year-old defender, who signed for United from Feyenoord in 2022 for around £15 million, hasn’t played for the Premier League giants since having knee surgery in the summer of 2023. Although Malacia was hardly visible during the previous season as he worked on his recovery, he was present at Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup final in May, where goals from Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho in the first half clinched an unforgettable victory for the Red Devils as they overcame the odds to beat Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
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GettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Malacia, unfortunately, wasn’t handed an FA Cup winners’ medal on the night as he had been unavailable throughout the competition. However, the Dutch left-back has now revealed that Casemiro urged him to join the Manchester United squad’s trophy celebration on the field, and even handed him his own FA Cup medal as a token of his hard work.
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(C)Getty ImagesWHAT MALACIA SAID
Speaking to The Athletic, Malacia said: “Of course, I wanted to be there to support everyone but, for me, the most difficult part was to be up there with the guys (for the trophy presentation), because I wasn’t part of the team during the whole process.
“I was like, ‘I’m staying down here and you guys just enjoy it, then I’ll see you in the dressing room’. He was like, ‘Nah, you have to go up there as well’. And if someone with that kind of experience tells you that, you’re listening.
“They [the squad] said, ‘At the end of the day, you’re still part of the team’. I’ve been in a dressing room the whole season and seen everything. They know how hard I’ve been working every day to come back to the team and everything, so they said you deserve it as much as we do.”
Malacia then revealed that Casemiro also handed him his medal and refused to take it back, he said: “Like I said before: if he gives you that, you just listen!”
WHAT NEXT FOR MALACIA?
After having missed out on well over a year’s worth of football, Malacia is finally edging towards his full comeback from the injury. The Dutchman played for Manchester United’s U-21 side earlier this side, and could potentially be ready for first team action before the end of 2024.
