Tyrell Malacia reveals one beautiful Casemiro gesture was actually TRUE despite press denials

Tyrell Malacia has revealed that one gesture to him from Manchester United’s Casemiro was true despite repeated media denials.

Tyrell Malacia last appeared for Manchester United on the final day of the 2022/23 Premier League season, playing a full 90 minutes against Fulham in May 2023.

While the Dutch left-back was part of the squad for the 2023 FA Cup final against Manchester City, he remained on the bench. His last competitive outing came a few weeks later, logging 116 minutes for the Netherlands in the Nations League. Since then, he has been absent from first-team action.

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After a 535-day absence, Malacia recently made his return, playing 45 minutes for United’s U21 side in a 3-1 defeat to Huddersfield Town.

Malacia is expected to return to action just as new head coach Rúben Amorim takes charge of the squad and will be in training when the 39-year-old commences his first session with the squad on Monday.

Casemiro’s fantastic gesture

Malacia’s long-term absence has meant that he has missed out on a whole host of action at the club. Although the 2023/24 season was dire, Malacia missed playing in the brilliant 2024 FA Cup final, where the club secured a 2-1 win over Manchester City.

On the day, although he was not in the squad, Malacia was pictured celebrating with his teammates on the balcony as they lifted the trophy, as well as in the group photos with the FA Cup on the turf.

Malacia explained that although he did not want to climb the steps, Casemiro insisted that he join them for the celebrations.

“I was like, ‘I’m staying down here, and you guys just enjoy it, then I’ll see you in the dressing room’,” Malacia recalled to The Athletic. “He was like, ‘Nah, you have to go up there as well’. And if someone with that kind of experience tells you that, you’re listening.”

Continued, he revealed: “They said, ‘At the end of the day, you’re still part of the team’. I’ve been in a dressing room the whole season and seen everything. They know how hard I’ve been working every day to come back to the team and everything, so they said you deserve it as much as we do.”

Although this was denied at the time, the 25-year-old also explained that Casemiro handed Malacia his FA Cup final winner’s medal as a show of support to the defender following his tough battle with injuries.

“Like I said before: if he gives you that, you just listen!”

Malacia has been absent for 535 days but is set to return to the first team soon, and with Amorim likely to employ a new system at the club, Malacia has the chance to reset completely and impress at the start of a new Manchester United era.

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