Tyrell Malacia says he has 'no regrets' about Manchester United despite training with youth players

Tyrell Malacia said he has "no regrets" about joining Manchester United despite being exiled to train with the club's youth players, in an exclusive interview with BBC Sport on 24 October 2026, as he rebuilds his career with FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer.

Malacia is rebuilding his career in MLS after his Manchester United contract expired in the summer and following two major knee operations. He says he has been fully fit since November 2024 and his start for FC Cincinnati in their 2-1 win over DC United on 21 October was the first time he had started four successive games since September 2022. Malacia made 39 appearances across all competitions in his debut season at Old Trafford after a £13m move from Feyenoord, then featured only 11 times across the next three seasons.

He described the injury sequence that stalled his United career, saying he experienced discomfort at the end of the 2022-23 campaign, returned to the Netherlands for surgery and then required a second operation when the healing did not go to plan. He made his comeback for the Under-21s in an EFL Trophy defeat at Huddersfield and expected that to lead back into the first team. "I had a good first season and then I had my injury," said Malacia. "I don't want to talk too much about it, but certain things happened in my rehab."

Before being sidelined again, Malacia made eight appearances for United and then spent the remainder of the 2024-25 season on loan at PSV Eindhoven. Reflecting on that spell he said: "Even at that time I still wasn't 100%, but it was good for me to get game time and adapting to the game," and added, "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'."

Malacia recounted how, on his return, he was placed with a group of players allowed to leave by manager Ruben Amorim and ended up training separately from the first team. He said he was unsure who made the decision but continued to train with the second team and, at his request, even with the under-18s and under-17s to maintain fitness. "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 said. "I could have said 'OK, I'm not coming into training'. But I thought 'that's not going to help me'."

He returned to Manchester United's first-team fold at the end of September 2025, was named in Amorim's squad for the 25 October encounter with Brighton and was included in all matchday squads from 24 November onwards. He made brief appearances later in the season — coming on for the final two minutes against Newcastle on Boxing Day, playing the last five at St James' Park on 5 March and making his farewell appearance at Brighton on 24 May. "I had a good conversation with Michael [Carrick] when he came," Malacia said. "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.'"

Malacia has committed to FC Cincinnati for the 2027 "sprint season", with an option to remain for 2027-28, and says he wants to apply his experience from Manchester United, Feyenoord and PSV to his new club. "As a football player you want to play. I'm able to do that now and consistently, so I'm happy," he said. "I've played for Man Utd, I've played for Feyenoord, I've played for PSV, so I have a lot of experience. I want to bring that to the club. I want to bring my energy, I want to bring my quality. 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."

FC Cincinnati sit eighth in the MLS Eastern Conference with four regular-season matches remaining and the top nine teams qualify for the play-offs, so Malacia hopes to add a few more appearances before the campaign ends.