I worked with Aston Villa transfer target Donyell Malen at Arsenal - he was ahead of Bukayo Saka
Thierry Henry has worked up close with Donyell Malen previously at Arsenal - and the Gunners legend liked what he saw of the Aston Villa transfer target during their days in the Colney academy, indeed - in that period - more so than even a player like Bukayo Saka.
Malen, of Borussia Dortmund, is the subject of negotations between the Bundesliga club and Villa, who are keen to add to their forward line in this January transfer window. All being well, Villa will strike an agreement with Dortmund and conclude a deal to bring Malen back to England, where he hasn't been since 2017.
During his time in the academy as a teenager, having arrived from Ajax which required an adaptation to English culture and a need to learn the language, Malen has spoken previously of how he improved as a player coming through the ranks. During that two-year period, he worked with Henry who, at that time, was back at Arsenal doing his coaching badges.
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Henry has since taken in Malen's rise to become a Champions League player who contributes regularly at the top end of the pitch to Dortmund's exploits and has earned himself a regular place in the Netherlands international fold at major tournaments. In one sense, it's not a surprise to Henry, who has spoken previously of Malen, considering that he believed the attacker to even be ahead of current Gunners star Saka when they were kids.
“I like Donyell Malen,” Henry said earlier this year. “I like his story. He is coming back to the ground where he won the league six years ago with Eindhoven. He had to battle cruciate ligaments. A lot of stories. He was at Ajax as a youngster. He couldn’t cope with it, then he came to Arsenal and couldn’t make it at Arsenal, then he went to Eindhoven and he made a path for himself.
“I had him for a year because I was passing my badges there. It didn’t work out for him at Arsenal. I thought he had some quality, but at Arsenal, you have a lot of quality. Then Donyell went to Eindhoven and played for a young PSV. That’s the second team and he ended up doing brilliantly, which I am very happy about because, at the very beginning, people were doubting him.
"He trusted himself and his qualities, with his family, and he made it happen and won the league with PSV. Now, he plays for Holland. It must have been emotional to play against Eindhoven [for Dortmund], a team that he won the league with almost six years ago, so I am very happy for him.
"At the time I was in the academy, people were talking a lot about Chris Willock, the brother of Joe, Reiss Nelson and Donyell Malen. Bukayo was good, but he wasn’t the talk of the ones that was in the academy, you know, and that’s why I have mad respect for Bukayo."
