[인터풋볼] Reporter Oh Jong-heon = Rio Ferdinand left a cold review on Tyrell Malasia.
Manchester United’s first signing was Malasia. On the 5th (Korean time), Manchester United officially announced on the club’s website, “We are delighted to announce the signing of Malasia. The contract period is until the summer of 2026. A one-year extension option is included.”
Even at the young age of 22, Malasia is an experienced player. He played his career 136 games for Feyenoord, with the Dutch national team for all ages and the senior team. United had Luke Shaw and Alex Telles as left-backs, but they brought in Malasia for manager Eric Ten Haach.
In the midst of this, legendary defender Ferdinand, who played for Manchester United, insisted that Malasia should not have premature expectations. “Malasia seems like a very talented player, but he hasn’t been verified on the English Premier League stage,” he claimed on his YouTube channel.
Ferdinand also mentioned two players who struggled after moving to Manchester United from the Dutch league. Memphis Depay and Donnie van der Beek. Depay joined Manchester United in 2015 from PSV Eindhoven. He received the jersey number 7 and showed expectations, but after a disappointing performance, he moved to Olympique Lyon after a season and a half.
However, Depay managed to make a comeback in Lyon and did not look bad after moving to Barcelona. British ‘HITC’ said, “Ferdinand mentioned Depay as a player who was below expectations. He scored only two goals in the league with Manchester United. But in the end he showed growth as a player.”
Van der Wiek was also the most recent player to join from the Netherlands before signing Malasia. He left Ajax before the 2020-21 season and joined Manchester United. He was initially expected to form a good pair with Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba, but never got a starting spot, and was on loan at Everton last season.
Of course, there are cases where players from the Dutch league came to Manchester United and succeeded. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who left PSV and joined Manchester United in 2001, played for five years and became the top scorer in major tournaments such as the EPL, UEFA Champions League and UCL. In 2005, Ji-Sung Park also played for Manchester United through PSV.
Photo = Getty Images, Manchester United Official