OH MY GOD!!! I can’t believe this. What happened to him? Look at what he is doing. Is he OK?” – Manchester United fans at the field went wild after seeing Tyrell Malacia for the first time this year, as he received his FA Cup final medal with the rest of the team after the match against Manchester City.

Tyrell Malacia was spotted celebrating Manchester United’s FA Cup final victory at Wembley, much to the delight of fans who had missed him during his lengthy lay-off. The 24-year-old defender, who joined from Feyenoord in 2022 for around £15 million, had been absent from the team since undergoing knee surgery last summer. His last appearance for United was on May 28, 2023.

Although Malacia was expected to return to first-team action in February, Erik ten Hag later confirmed he would likely miss the remainder of the 2023/24 season. “I think it’s going to be difficult for this season to be available,” Ten Hag said at the time.

Malacia’s absence from social media also raised concerns among fans, with his last Instagram post dated July 11, 2023, and his last tweet shortly thereafter. However, on Saturday afternoon, he joined his United teammates on the Wembley pitch to celebrate their 2-1 win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

Fans were thrilled to see the defender after such a long spell on the sidelines. One fan exclaimed, “Can’t tell you how happy I am to see Malacia,” while another commented, “Is that Tyrell Malacia in the line for a medal????” A third added, “Good to see Tyrell Malacia out there with the United team celebrating their FA Cup win. Hopefully, we get to see him in action next season.” Another fan remarked, “The best thing from this game is seeing Tyrell Malacia.”

Earlier in the week, Erik ten Hag mentioned Malacia in an interview with Voetbal International. “Tyrell Malacia didn’t play a single minute of football this season,” he said. “In fact, he didn’t even spend a single moment out on the training pitch. We signed him as our backup for Luke Shaw.”

Ten Hag also praised Shaw, who missed a significant portion of the season due to injury. “Luke Shaw is the best left-back in the world,” he added. “This guy is so good. But he suffered a horrible injury at the start of his career, and because of this, he will never be able to play 60 games per season. The injuries have been really crazy.”