Donyell Malen appears on this month’s cover of Men's Health and makes the ambition plain: the AS Roma forward says the World Cup is the prize he has wanted since childhood, and he is travelling to his first tournament determined to win it. "Die WK-droom was toen nog ver weg. Nu is het toernooi dichtbij. Ik wil belangrijk zijn, goals maken en gaan voor de hoofdprijs. Ik ben zo excited," he told the magazine.
The line is more than publicity copy. Malen arrives at the World Cup with more than fifty international appearances and two European Championships behind him, a record that marks him as one of the Oranje’s experienced attacking options even though this is his first World Cup. Club form has been strong, and that momentum is precisely why he is being spoken of as a realistic candidate to lead the line.
Men’s Health — a magazine built around men who pursue a healthy, active lifestyle — gives Malen a platform to lay out what the tournament means. He told the magazine he first dreamed of the World Cup at age eleven and that his first memory is the Netherlands’ run to the 2010 final in South Africa. He also reflected on the setback of 2022, when a dip in form and an injury kept him out of the Qatar squad: "Dat was een teleurstelling, maar achteraf ben ik er blij mee. Ik geloof in het lot. Als het niet zo is, dan moet het niet zo zijn. Op dat moment was ik er ook niet klaar voor," he said.
That mix of long-held desire and recent form is what gives the comments weight this week. Malen plays his club football with AS Roma and has been described as being in strong form heading into the tournament. The Netherlands’ coaching staff appear willing to reward that form: Malen is expected to get a chance at centre forward in the group-stage match against Japan, the next confirmed fixture for the Oranje.
Still, the selection picture is not settled. The battle for the striker position looks set to come down to Malen and Memphis Depay. Depay, a veteran of the national team, remains in contention but is not yet fully fit — a fact that leaves room for Malen to press his case. That rivalry is the only real tactical question clouding what is otherwise a straightforward personal story: Malen, finally healthy and playing well, wants the top prize.
For Malen the World Cup is personal. He said wearing the Oranje shirt always gives him pride and that representing his motherland at a World Cup is something he has waited for. The contrast with 2022 — when injury and form denied him the chance — gives his current assertions a sharper edge than a routine pre-tournament boast. He frames the absence then as part of a larger path rather than an end point; now the tournament is close and he is aiming to be decisive.
On the pitch, what will determine whether Malen walks out as the starting striker against Japan is immediate and concrete: training, match fitness and the final call from the coach. For now, the narrative is straightforward. Malen has momentum, international experience and a cover-feature stage to make his intentions public. Depay’s fitness is the main variable that could alter that trajectory.
The next public moment that will settle some of this is the Netherlands’ match with Japan, when Malen is widely expected to be given an opportunity up front. If he starts and scores, the cover-line in Men’s Health will read less like an aspiration and more like a forecast; if he is used from the bench or kept out while Depay recovers, the question of who leads the Oranje attack will remain the tournament’s early subplot.
