Fans react to seeing Tyrell Malacia for the first time this year after not training once all season

Tyrell Malacia was spotted celebrating Manchester United's FA Cup final win at Wembley – and fans were delighted to see him again after a lengthy lay-off.

The 24-year-old defender, who signed from Feyenoord in 2022 for around £15 million, has not played for United since undergoing surgery on a knee injury last summer.

In fact, the Dutch left-back last featured for the Reds on May 28, 2023.

Malacia was said to be closing in on a return to first-team action in February but a month later, Erik ten Hag confirmed that he would likely miss the rest of the 2023/24 campaign.

“I think it’s going to be difficult for this season to be available," he said at the time.

Malacia's lack of social media activity also raised concern amongst fans. His last Instagram post was uploaded on July 11, 2023, while his last tweet came just days after.

But on Saturday afternoon, he joined his United teammates on the Wembley pitch after they won this season's FA Cup following a 2-1 win over Manchester City.

Fans were thrilled to see the defender after such a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

One said: "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 wrote: "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."

A fourth added: "The best thing from this game is seeing Tyrell Malacia."

Earlier this week, Erik ten Hag mentioned the defender 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 back-up for Luke Shaw.”

Ten Hag also heaped praise on Shaw, who has missed a large chunk of the season through injury.

“Luke Shaw is the best left back in the world,” he added.

“This guy is so good. But he has 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."