Donyell Malen

[LeeB]

This has got 'coming back to haunt us in the Europa League' slapped all over it's Chevy Chase.

[ROBBO]

Proved all season that he couldn't play as the main man up front, a tidy player yes but the kind of dosh he was on was too much for a part timer. If we were City or Liverpool we could carry him but not us.

[andyh]

I don’t mind Malen and he clearly popped up with some important goals.
But, how can you have a player in your squad who is so ineffective when starting games or playing as a lone striker ?
When you sign a player, you are signing someone who can start games for you, not to be an impact sub.

[AlexAlexCropley]

I liked him .<sigh>

[Dave]

I don’t mind Malen and he clearly popped up with some important goals.
But, how can you have a player in your squad who is so ineffective when starting games or playing as a lone striker ?

It's all of five days ago that he started as a lone striker and did really well to set up both our goals.

[LeeB]

I don’t mind Malen and he clearly popped up with some important goals.
But, how can you have a player in your squad who is so ineffective when starting games or playing as a lone striker ?
When you sign a player, you are signing someone who can start games for you, not to be an impact sub.

We had one every week till he woke up against Brighton.

[KevinGage]

Not happy with this.

Though if the player has agitated for the move it’s generally unwise to keep an unhappy player.

Hope we’ve got at least two decent forward options coming in: Back up for Ollie and a decent wide option with pace.


Malen fulfilled both criteria and that’ll need to be replaced.

[PeterWithe]

I must say he never entirely convinced, but the timing is strange, and if other deals in the pipeline don't come off, could be seen as negligent.

[Ads]

I don’t mind Malen and he clearly popped up with some important goals.
But, how can you have a player in your squad who is so ineffective when starting games or playing as a lone striker ?

It's all of five days ago that he started as a lone striker and did really well to set up both our goals.

Until the cloggers closed the space second half and he struggled to hold the ball up. I like him, I think he works well in two up top, but we're not allowed to have nice things.

[andyh]

If he is agging for a move, could there be an underlying issue from last year when we signed him but decided not to include him in the European squad lists ?

[LeeB]

I don’t mind Malen and he clearly popped up with some important goals.
But, how can you have a player in your squad who is so ineffective when starting games or playing as a lone striker ?

It's all of five days ago that he started as a lone striker and did really well to set up both our goals.

Until the cloggers closed the space second half and he struggled to hold the ball up. I like him, I think he works well in two up top, but we're not allowed to have nice things.

Yeah, fundamentally the last line dictates everything.

[JUAN PABLO]

Looked like he had settled to me and seemed happy playing , and came up with some important stuff at times.   A player who can do something different in the squad , shame really , good luck to him if he leaves . Im sure Maatsen will be  a little disapointed too.


Hope we got something up our sleeve and not Tammy A

[Chris Smith]

If he is agging for a move, could there be an underlying issue from last year when we signed him but decided not to include him in the European squad lists ?

Maybe it’s as simple as him wanting more playing time ahead of the World Cup.

[Matt C]

Sad to see him leave, he’s made a good contribution and he handled himself with great dignity after the CL registration debacle.

Another example though of the disconnect between the previous sporting director and Emery on transfers. Malen didn’t ever really fit the system and you couldn’t shake the hunch that Emery didn’t fully rate him, we can’t afford to make those sort of mistakes and they’ve been too frequent.

[Olneythelonely]

I’m going to say it again, because there’s no one nearby to hear me go on about it, but this feels like utter lunacy to me. He’s the only real pace we have and I’ve seen no links to anyone that is quick, I think he’s going to be a massive loss.