The secret reason why the 24-year-old Manchester United defender Tyrell Malacia has been absent from the squad has finally been exposed

Reports say that Tyrell Malacia is having mental health issues because the left back has been away from the Manchester United first team for a long time.

Ever since May of last year, when he helped Erik ten Hag’s team beat Fulham 2-1 at Old Trafford, the 24-year-old hasn’t played for the Reds. Because of an unknown illness, he didn’t play a single minute of United’s pre-season tour of the United States.

Since the end of August, when Luke Shaw got hurt for good, this absence has gone on for the whole season without a clear reason. This has caused a problem at left back.

As a last-minute loan deal from Tottenham Hotspur, Sergio Reguilon was brought in on the last day of the summer transfer window to help fill this gap. But Reguilon got hurt himself within a month, which made Ten Hag probably wonder if the left back spot was cursed.

In January, the club chose to end Reguilon’s loan. They sent him back to London, where he quickly signed with Brentford on another loan until the end of the season.

Ten Hag later said that this choice was made because the club’s medical team thought that both Shaw and Malacia would be ready to play for the first team again in January. But this prediction turned out to be wrong.

Shaw did come back. On January 28, he played against Newport County in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Malacia still hasn’t met up with the first team for training. Shaw’s continued absence was made worse when he hurt his hamstring again against Luton in February, keeping him out until just before the end of the season.

At this point, Ten Hag has had to use Victor Lindelof and Sofyan Amrabat at left back, which has led to predictable bad results. Reports say the club has made it a goal to sign a new left back this summer, which suggests they don’t think Shaw and Malacia will be able to play every game next season.

The problem is clear with Shaw. Even though he is one of the best fullbacks in the Premier League, the England player just can’t stay healthy. He is often very good when he does play. But the team would suffer too much without him if there wasn’t a more than capable replacement ready.

That’s why Malacia’s strange long-term absence has been so hard to figure out. It was thought that the former Feyenoord player would have jumped at the chances Shaw’s injuries would have given him. Instead, he is still not available, even though Ten Hag said in February that he was getting close to coming back.

But Christopher Michel of fussball.news has now shed more light on the situation by saying that Malacia isn’t just hurt physically and can’t play; he’s also said to be having mental problems.

Unfortunately, this new information explains why the club has been so quiet about the fullback and why the date for his return keeps getting pushed back. If the guard is having mental health problems, there are not as many ways to help him get better as there are when he is hurt physically.

This is why the club’s medical team and Ten Hag may have thought Malacia was going to come back at different times, only for things to change.

United is “looking for a new back-up left-back for the coming season,” according to Michel. This is in line with what The Peoples Person told Old Trafford officials in the summer.