Donyell Malen: Have Roma Finally Found Their Striker?
It took until halfway through the January transfer window for AS Roma to finally get the striker they had wanted. In the winter window, Roma were linked with Joshua Zirkzee and Giacomo Raspadori, the latter rejected Roma to go and join Atalanta after a short spell in Spain at Atletico Madrid. Zirkzee stayed at Manchester United after Rúben Amorim was sacked as Manchester United manager. The third option was for Donyell Malen, who wanted to play as a centre forward.
Malen got a call from Gian Piero Gasperini urging him to join AS Roma and he would be the go-to guy to play in the centre forward role in Gian Piero Gasperini’s system. A six-month loan deal was agreed between Aston Villa and AS Roma with an obligation to buy at the end of the season for €25 million. Roma finally found the striker they had been looking for after the spending the first half of the season with Evan Ferguson and Artem Dovbyk. A completely different profile: Donyell Malen.
Both Ferguson and Dovbyk are target men and like to play with their back to goal and link up play. Donyell Malen is a completely different striker to Ferguson and Dovbyk. He does hold up the ball well and brings others into play. But he plays on the last shoulder of the defence and uses his speed and directness and that has been pivotal in his displays since his arrival at the club. Eleven goals in fourteen appearances in all competitions including ten in twelve in Serie A and it has been a shrewd business from AS Roma to bring in Malen.
Donyell Malen’s debut for AS Roma was away at Torino on 18th January and it was Matchday 21 of the Serie A season. It took just 26 minutes for Malen to open his account for Roma. There was a warning sign minutes before when Malen had a goal ruled out for offside via VAR. Malen was assisted by Paulo Dybala and we thought as Roma fans this would be a brilliant partnership on the pitch. But they only played together to date just one more time which was the next Serie A game at home to AC Milan. Dybala picked up a knee injury, and it would end up needed surgery, and this is a race for him to be fit for the final part of the season.
After failing to score at home to AC Milan and away at Udinese where AS Roma only picked up one point from the two games, Malen went on to score six goals in his next six Serie A games. This included back-to-back doubles in a 2-0 home win at home to Cagliari and in a 2-2 draw away in Naples against Napoli. One was from the penalty spot after Wesley was fouled by Napoli defender Amir Rrahmani. Donyell Malen against Vanja Milinković-Savić made no mistake and gave AS Roma a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, they could not hold as Napoli’s newest recruitment in attack Alisson Santos gave Roma defence and fright and scored with eight minutes remaining.
Malen continued his scoring streak in an epic 3-3 home draw with Juventus. He scored the third after a brilliant through ball from Manu Koné into Malen path who raced clear on goal and wonderfully dinked the ball past Mattia Perin to send the Stadio Olimpico into raptures. Roma would then surrender a 3-1 lead in the final 15 minutes and concede a stoppage time equaliser from Federico Gatti which has derailed their season.
A penalty away at Como would give AS Roma the early lead after Stephan El Shaarawy was fouled by Diego Carlos. Malen made no mistake, AS Roma then capitulated and succumbed to late goal from Diego Carlos to give Cesc Fàbregas’ side a 2-1 victory a crucial three points in the race for Champions League football.
In the UEFA Europa League, Donyell Malen would only play the two games for AS Roma as he was registered after the group phase was done. He played in both legs against Bologna: Malen would score from the penalty spot to give AS Roma a lifeline in the game and the tie. His goal made it 3-2 on the night and 4-3 to Bologna on aggregate. Lorenzo Pellegrini made it 3-3 ten minutes before the end of the 90 minutes. Bologna won the game in the second half of extra time thanks to a goal from Nicolò Cambiaghi.
Donyell Malen failed to score in the next two games for AS Roma in a 1-0 win over Lecce and the 5-2 debacle on Easter Sunday away in the San Siro against Inter Milan. But five days later in the latest round of action, the Dutch striker proved to be the hero for his on-loan club. Malen netted a hat-trick in a 3-0 win for AS Roma on Friday night against relegation candidates Pisa at the Stadio Olimpico. The Pisa back three could not cope with Malen’s movements and he scored his tenth goal in twelve appearances in Serie A, continuing to prove to be a worthy acquisition made in January.
To think where both the player and club would be if Donyell Malen came to AS Roma in the summer and not in January. In the space of close to four months, Malen has proved to be a real hit with AS Roma fans. Fans of the club on social media have mocked up a picture of Malen to R9 Ronaldo in the 2002 World Cup. It’s also interesting with Malen being in Serie A for just close to four months, he is now joint-third in the scoring charts in the race for Capocannoniere.
Lautaro Martínez is leading the race with 16 goals. Anastasios Douvikas is second with 11 goals. Five players are tied for 10 goals in Serie A with Nico Paz, Kenan Yıldız, Keinan Davis, Rasmus Højlund and Donyell Malen. Malen after his hat-trick on Friday night is averaging a goal every 97 minutes and his goals per 90 minutes is at 0.93.
They say do not fall in love with loan players, but for me and fellow AS Roma fans, it’s far too late. Donyell Malen has proven to be a shrewd and smart piece of business. It looks like he is enjoying is football at the moment in Italy and is being played in the right position as centre forward. I am hoping in the final six games of the season he can fire Roma up the top four and Champions League football which this club craves for.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Soccrates Images – Getty Images