Thread on potential Liverpool target Donyell Malen:

I've been a fan of Malen for a few years and now that we've been heavily linked with him I thought I'd make a little brief about him and his:
Playstyle
Strengths
Weaknesses
Potential
and how he may fit in our team.

Age: 22
Position: ST/LW
Foot: Right (although he is ambidextrous.)
Height: 178 cm

Malen plays for PSV Eindhoven in the Eredevise. He mainly operates as a centre forward but can also play on the left. He has many traits that if developed correctly can help him become world class.

Stats:

2020/21 (Eredevise):
Games: 27
Started: 21
Goals: 16
Big Chances Missed: 15
Assists: 6
Big Chances Created: 8

(Europa League):
Games: 8
Started: 8
Goals: 5
Big Chances Missed: 2
0 assists and big chances missed.

His 19/20 season was cut short due to a serious knee injury. In the Eredevise he scored 11 goals and got 2 Assists whilst missing 9 Big Chances.

The numbers show that whilst he is prolific, he isn't very clinical. This is something that can be developed and nurtured by coaches.

What's most impressive about Donyell Malen is how he gets goals in a variety of ways. He doesn't just score by running in behind a highline, he uses his agility & close ball control to score in tight areas and against low blocks. His ambidexterity helps him score in tight spaces.

watch this to see a bit of his goalscoring ability and keep close attention on the variety of ways in which he scores. He scores with both feet and can time leaps well to score with his head, a bit similar to Diogo Jota.

He can be inconsistent with his performances against deep blocks. In some games he struggles and regularly drops in and tries to effect the game with his passing and direct dribbling. He's surprisingly at breaking between lines in these ways.

His pace, agility and dribbling ability are very good and show that he possesses an immense amount of natural talent. When operating out wide on the left he can take his man on and has sparks of flair. This can all be refined though as at times his decision-making is poor.

He has alot of tools to become a great player and Liverpool could be the perfect place to refine his game and develop his natural abilities. If his movement and decision making improves he could become a very valuable and skilled attacker that can play in many different ways.

At Liverpool I'd expect him to operate in a similar way Jota does. He'd be both a backup to Mane and play as a centre forward like Jota tends to. If we do transition into a 4-2-3-1, he'd be good cover in multiple positions.

I think the rumoured €45M is too expensive for someone still so raw but if the price is around and below €25M he could be a very good signing that fits our model and could prove to be a bargain if he fulfils his potential.

Any questions... Comment below and I'll try my best to answer