Donyell Malen to Aston Villa transfer - The 'mega talent' that Dutch great wants to 'grab by his throat'
Aston Villa are in talks to sign Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund as Unai Emery looks to add more quality to his attacking ranks in the January window.
Contracted with the German giants until 2026, Malen is reportedly available for around £25m this month and Villa were rebuffed in their first bid of £15m plus add-ons. The 25-year-old forward is said to be keen for a fresh start after only starting six of Dortmund’s 15 Bundesliga matches so far this term.
He joined Dortmund in the summer of 2021 to fill the void left by Jadon Sancho, who made a big-money move to Manchester United. Bagging nine times in 38 appearances in all competitions in his first season in Germany, before striking 10 times the following campaign, Malen then hit a career-best Bundesliga tally of 13 last season.
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After only scoring three goals in the league this campaign, Dortmund are happy to offload Malen having signed Max Beier from Hoffenheim last summer. The Germany international has been preferred by Nuri Sahin to operate on the right wing.
Malen can play across the frontline, but has predominantly been used from the right since joining Dortmund. He is capable of dropping in to receive the ball, but prefers to get in behind defences using his searing pace to cause problems.
Malen learned from two legendary forwards in his younger years, training under Dennis Bergkamp in the Ajax U10s, while Thierry Henry was one of his coaches at Arsenal.
At the age of nine he joined Ajax's academy, but didn’t pursue a path into the first-team after moving to Arsenal in 2015 at the age of 16. He scored 44 times across two seasons in London before returning to his homeland after being signed by PSV in 2017.
There, he contributed to 79 goals (55 goals, 24 assists) in 116 appearances and also broke into the senior Dutch international side. He marked his debut against Germany in September 2019 with a goal, before going on to play in Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.
Malen scored twice in the Netherlands’ 3-0 win over Romania in the Euro 2024 round of 16, before starting against England in the semi-final at the Signal Iduna Park. He also has plenty of experience playing in European football, making 31 appearances in the Champions League and 14 in the Europa League.
The forward featured in eight matches in Dortmund’s run to the 2024 Champions League final, where he came on in the second half of the 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid. After scoring in the first leg round of 16 clash against former club PSV, ex-Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart said Malen could be compared to the best players in the world, if he had more belief in himself.
“I like him so much,” he said. “I've said it before: it seems like he doesn’t believe it. The question I actually want to ask him is: do you want to become the best player in the world? Because he really has everything to become one. I am really 100 per cent convinced of that.
“I almost want to grab him by his throat. I really see in him a mega talent. It annoys me that he doesn’t get everything out of it. I see a potential that no one has.”
Malen’s former PSV teammate Mario Gotze said: "Donyell is extremely fast and very dangerous. If he has a chance, it's usually a goal, too. He's still young, but has really good abilities.”
