Tyrell Malacia is continuing his recovery from a knee injury but there is no timeframe on his return to training with Manchester United.

Left-back Malacia was absent from the collection of training ground images shared by Manchester United on Monday. He has not played for United for over a year, last featuring on the final day of the 2022/23 Premier League season due to a knee injury that required two rounds of surgery.

The 24-year-old was rarely seen last season but surfaced to attend the FA Cup final triumph over Manchester City at Wembley in May.

Malacia and Jadon Sancho were the only senior players not accounted for when the United first team squad reported for the first day of pre-season on Monday. Malacia’s absence raises questions as to whether he will be fit to feature for United during their pre-season schedule.

United’s first friendly is against Rosenburg in Trondheim on Monday before they travel to Edinburgh to take on Rangers. United then fly to the United States for their three-game tour to face Arsenal, Real Betis and Liverpool and take on City in the Community Shield on August 10.

Malacia became United manager Erik ten Hag’s first signing in July 2022 when he arrived from Feyenoord for £14.7million. The Netherlands international played 39 times in the 2022-23 season and was included in all 62 matchday squads. He picked up a new injury during the campaign, however, which was managed with pain injections.

However, he was forced to undergo surgery to try and correct the problem. United manager Erik ten Hag, ahead of last season’s Premier League opener against Wolves, confirmed Malacia would “take some time” to recover.

United, in December, then said they expected the Netherlands international to return ‘early next year’ (2024) and Ten Hag expected the player to be available in January as United terminated left back Sergio Reguilon’s season-long loan from Tottenham in the winter transfer window.

However, United were without a left-footed left back in 37 of their 52 fixtures last season as Luke Shaw suffered three separate lay-offs.

Malacia is yet to be photographed in a United training session at Carrington in 2024, with the most recent footage of him emerging in April via social media, showing him conducting some gym work.

Back in April, it was claimed that a surgeon in London had been proposed for Malacia’s operation last summer but he had preferred to undergo the procedure in the Netherlands, which United agreed to. But the flight over and subsequent operation was conducted without the club giving the final green-light and upon his return to Carrington months later it was found that small fragments remained around his meniscus. A decision was then made to undergo a second round of surgery with the same surgeon under the oversight of United in November, meaning that Malacia had to restart the whole of his rehabilitation process.

Those who have not been on international duty over the summer reported back for the first day of pre-season on Monday and Malacia was not among those who were pictured arriving at the training ground. Harry Maguire and Casemiro, who both missed the end of last season through injury, were spotted.

Addressing Malacia’s situation at the end of last season, Ten Hag said: “Malacia hasn’t played a minute all season. He hasn’t even been on the training pitch once.

“We had recruited Malacia at the start of last season precisely as a back-up for Luke Shaw, those two options had to bring us a lot. The idea with Malacia was very good, and he just did well last season, but this season we never had him.”

With Shaw still away at the European Championship with England and facing the possibility of two more fixtures, United’s left-back department risks being light for the start of their pre-season schedule. Shaw, along with the other members of United’s squad who have featured at the European Championship and the Copa America this summer, will be entitled to a period of absence before reporting back for pre-season training. It means the prospect of Malacia still being unavailable means United will be significantly light at left-back.