Donyell Malen


Donyell Malen is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national team. Malen has also featured at youth level for Ajax and Arsenal.

Club career

Early career

Born in Wieringen, Hollands Kroon, Malen began his career with Ajax in 2007. Despite a great deal of resistance coming from Ajax, in 2015 he left the Amsterdam Arena to journey to England. In the process, he declined offers from clubs Manchester United and Chelsea, instead choosing to play for Arsenal. Malen joined up due to Arsenal being the side of his heroes Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp.

Arsenal

Malen began playing for the youth teams of Arsenal in the Youth Premier League together with the FA Youth Cup, and the UEFA Youth League in the 2015–16 season. He began to display his impressive talent during this, his debut season for the Gunners.
He provided an assist in Arsenal's 2–0 win over Bayern Munich in their October 2015 Youth Champions League match. He also scored with chips in matches against Brighton and Hove and West Bromwich Albion in the 2015–16 Youth Premier League. Malen also scored during that season against clubs such as Aston Villa, Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton for Arsenal.
Malen found himself on the scoresheet in the FA Youth Cup quarterfinal away to Coventry City which Arsenal won on penalties. Coming off the bench, he scored against Manchester City in the semi-final of the 2016 FA Youth Cup at the Emirates Stadium.
On 6 February 2016, it was reported that Malen signed his first professional contract with Arsenal.
Malen was altogether capped 30 times during the 2015–16 season for Arsenal's youth wherein he found himself on the scoresheet in a total of 14 occasions.
During the 2016–17 season, Malen was used a great deal on the wing. He scored against Brighton and Hove in a 3–0 victory, and found an assist for the Gunners U18s in their 1–1 draw away against West Ham United. He also got another assist which came in a 1–0 win against Norwich City and ticked off another goal in a 1–1 draw vs Aston Villa. He again offered an assist in a 1–1 draw against FC Basel in the UEFA Youth League. Malen also got upon the scoreboard and assisted in a 3–0 defeat of Leicester City as well as netting in a 3–1 victory vs that of and Southampton F.C. in January 2017. He also scored, delivered an assist and fostered a penalty, in a 4–1 win against Chelsea in February 2017 for Arsenal's U23s. In March 2017 Malen delivered an assist in a 2–0 win for Arsenal's U23s over rivals Tottenham in the North London Derby. Also in that month, Malen scored for the U23s vs Man City in a 3–3 draw at home. In April 2017 he scored again against Sunderland in an away game that finished 2–1 to the hosts.
Malen then netted a brace in a 5–1 rout of Blackburn Rovers U18s on 29 April 2017 away at Blackburn.
He again scored against West Ham United in a 3–3 draw within May 2017, of which helped propel Arsenal's U18s to runners up of the U18 Premier League of 2016–17.
Malen was called up on 9 July 2017, as part of Arsenal's squad for the club's pre-season tour of Australia and China. He made his senior debut for Arsenal in the Gunners 2–0 win over Sydney FC on 13 July 2017.
He also played against Chelsea for the Gunners in a 3–0 loss in Shanghai.
All in all Malen was capped 67 times, scoring 27 goals altogether for Arsenal.

PSV

Malen was sold by Arsenal to PSV Eindhoven in late August 2017. This surprising deal was to the dismay of several Arsenal fans, who held great hopes for the Dutchman.
Malen went on to play as a winger for Jong PSV. With PSV II he delivered an assist in an Eerste Divisie game upon 20 October 2017 against RKC Waalwijk which finished 3–2. On 24 November 2017 Malen scored a brace in Jong PSV's 6–0 thumping of Telstar. He again netted in PSV II's 3–0 win over FC Oss on 27 November 2017. Malen scored and picked up an assist in PSV II's 2–3 loss to Fortuna upon 4 December 2017.
He again scored in a 1–1 draw away to Go Ahead Eagles upon 12 December 2017. Malen went on to be named in Voetbal International's Jupiler League team of the week a day later.
Malen was bestowed with the Bronze Bull for being the Best Talent for the second period of the 2017–18 Jupiler League upon 29 January 2018. He went to make his debut for PSV in a 4–0 Eredivisie win over PEC Zwolle on 3 February 2018.
Malen went on to win the 2018 Eredivisie title with PSV. He also ended the 2017–18 season as Jong PSV's topscorer.
On 14 September 2019, Malen scored all 5 goals for PSV as they thrashed Vitesse.

International career

Youth

At the 2016 Under 17 Euros held in Azerbaijan, Malen played throughout the tournament where the Oranje got to the semi finals. He went on to feature for the Netherlands under-18 team. He also was called up, in December 2016, for the Dutch squad for the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship In March 2017 Malen scored in the 86th minute of a U18 game against Austria to equalise for the Dutch in an eventual 1–1 draw.
In a Four Nations tournament involving The Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Finland, The Netherlands lost the first game to the Belgians. On 1 September 2017, in the second match, Malen scored for the Oranje U19s in the 90th minute, so as to assure a 2–2 draw with Portugal. He then went on to score a brace in a 9–0 rout of Finland.
During an U19 Euro qualifier on 7 October 2017, Malen netted for Holland's U19s to cap off a 2–0 victory at home over Hungary. Malen two days later scored within extra time to secure a 2–2 draw to Slovenia which saw Holland finishing atop of their group and thus sealed their spot for the 2018 U19 Euros.
With the score locked at 1–1 in a friendly against Italy's Under19s, Malen hit a free kick to score the winning goal for the Dutch on 9 November 2017. Malen then scored a brace for Holland in a friendly away to Serbia's Under 19s.

Senior

Malen made his senior international debut for the Netherlands on 6 September 2019, in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier against Germany in Hamburg. He came off the bench in the 58th minute mark and scored his team's third goal in the match to untie a 2–2 score, as the Dutch went on to win 4–2.

Style of play

Malen is a tremendously quick player who possesses great dribbling skills and an aptitude for prolific goal scoring of which is illustrated in his displays for both club and country. Malen has been likened by ex-Ajax youth coach and Reading F.C.'s technical chief, Dutchman Brian Tevreden to Chilean forward Alexis. Arsenal legends such as Dennis Bergkamp worked with him at Ajax, as well as Thierry Henry whom coached Malen at Arsenal.

Personal life

Malen is a fan of Surinamese cuisine and is good friends with fellow Dutch footballers Matthijs de Ligt and Justin Kluivert.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
16 September 2019Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany3–24–2UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

Honours

Club

Arsenal
PSV Eindhoven
Netherlands