Donyell Malen was left frustrated by Aston Villa after he was omitted from their Champions League team in favor of Marcus Rashford.
Rashford got out of grace at Manchester United after the new boss Ruben arrived in November and arrived at Villa Park during the January transfer window and the field for the Red Devils no longer adorned since mid -December. And although fans and manager Unai Emery will be enthusiastic to see exactly what he can do during his loan for the club, his arrival does not come without his compromises.
He made his debut in the 2-1 FA Cup victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, to replace Malen in the 66th minute of the game. But the new teammates do not play together in Europe.
Emery had grinded out of their Champions League team after they had automatically gone to the knockout phases. According to athletics, that has disappointed him deeply.
According to UEFA rules, Villa was only able to add three new names from their five January signing sessions. In addition to Malen's Arrvial from Borussia Dortmund in a £ 21 million deal that will hold him in Villa Park until 2029, Andres Garcia joined Levante in a £ 5.91 million movement, while Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi also signed about Bumbler at Rashford.
Malen told after his move that playing in the Champions League was “very important” for him when he decided to sign for Villa, in which it was explained: “It is a big thing, the Champions League. It is the biggest competition in the world I played a very important thing for me in recent years.
Emery, however, finally decided to leave him and Garcia from the competition for the 2024/25 campaign. Disasi was a shoo-in given villas defensive injuries, with the similar profile of Rashford and Malen and left the decision to one of them.
Speaking of his choice, the boss said: “It was not easy, the conversation with him. It is not fair, but the rules encouraged us to make the decision and I explained why we took it.
“Of course he accepted it, but it's not easy for him to be with us now and not play in the Champions League.” The choice will ultimately be disappointing for Malen, which played in the Champions League final with Dortmund in the Champions League final -with a loss of 2-0 for Real Madrid.
Villa qualified for the knockout rounds of the competition of the current campaign with an eight-place finish in the new competition format. The Midlands side achieved five victories, one draw and only two losses of their eight games, and will now be confronted with one of Club Brugge, Atalanta, Sporting CP or Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16.
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