At the end of the week in which he became a Ballon d’Or winner, Harry Kane lost top spot in one scoring chart to a man who may feel he has some unfinished business in England before facing Manchester United.

Donyell Malen left Aston Villa as something of a nearly man in January, but since joining Roma, who face United in the Champions League on Tuesday, the Dutchman has become the hottest goalscorer in Europe.

A goal in Roma’s 5-2 victory over Udinese last Saturday meant that Malen moved one ahead of Kane as the highest-scoring player in Europe’s top five leagues in 2026. His 22 league goals for Roma are one better than Kane’s 21 in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich and also better than Raphina’s 21 for Barcelona in La Liga. Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, second and third on the Ballon d’Or list, have 19 each.

It is a remarkable story and Malen’s curious year in England at Villa, in which he averaged a goal every 134 minutes in the Premier League, owes in part to Marcus Rashford, who is yet to get off the mark for United this season.

Villa signed Malen from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £21.5m on January 14, 2025, with the player revealing that the club’s participation in the Champions League had been “a very important thing when deciding to move”.

But a couple of weeks later, Villa made a deadline-day move to sign Rashford on loan from United and Malen was omitted from the updated Champions League squad list. Rashford and two more last-minute loan signings Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi made up the three additions Villa were allowed to register.

Malen started only twice in the league for Villa during the second half of the 2024-25 season, but remained determined to return for the next campaign in the best possible condition and enjoyed an encouraging pre-season.

But by January of this year, and despite Rashford no longer being at Villa Park, Malen had only started five more League games and he decided it was time to look for opportunities in his favoured position elsewhere.

Villa manager Unai Emery had signed Malen to play across the front three, but the forward had always wanted to start as a number nine and that was at the forefront of his mind when clubs started to show interest.

Any club that so much as hinted at using Malen on either flank was immediately discounted. Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini only had eyes for Malen as a central striker and that proved to be key to a move that started as a loan deal for the second half of last season and became permanent in the summer.

In an interview with Corriere dello Sport, Malen said: “It was me [who wanted to leave Villa]. I wanted to play, to be part of a team where I could play every weekend and be important. At that stage, I didn’t feel like I was, but I think I made the best choice.”

In total, Roma paid about £23.4m for Malen which has proved to be a bargain. Having fired his latest club to Champions League qualification with 14 Serie A goals last season, he has started this campaign with 11 goals in 12 games in all competitions – including two against Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Villa fans have been delighted with their club’s new striker, Nicolas Jackson, but Malen’s form since leaving the Midlands has not gone unnoticed. Explaining his departure, Emery said: “I would have liked to keep him, but he asked me to sell him. There was the opportunity to go to Roma and I’m happy for him, he’s an excellent player and I’m convinced he can have a great career at Roma.”

Understandably, Malen is already a hero in Rome, where he has settled well with his wife Delisha and four children, and has now started to learn Italian. Gasperini still speaks to him through an interpreter, but the message is said to be simple. Stay central and score goals.

“Centre is the position where I feel best, most comfortable,” Malen said. “In England, it’s a lot of rain and very cold. Here, in the summer, you have to slow down the game; you can’t always go back and forth in 40-degree heat. In the Premier League, there’s a different philosophy. You never find defensive blocks like the Italians.”

Those close to Malen insist there is no ill will from him towards Villa or Emery, who he is said to have maintained a “cordial relationship” with staff and former team-mates who worked with him in the Midlands describe the 27-year-old as a “great lad” and a “hard worker”.

Given how well things have gone for him in Rome under Gasperini, Malen, who spent two years as a youth player at Arsenal before moving to PSV Eindhoven and then to Dortmund, has not considered what the future might hold.

But it is not a surprise that his form has attracted interest from across Europe. United are in need of a No 9 and will get a close look at Malen on Tuesday night, while Tottenham Hotspur showed an interest in him during the same January transfer window he moved to Villa.

Roberto De Zerbi, the Tottenham head coach, is an admirer of Gasperini and will be well aware of how well Malen is performing for him, with Spurs probably set to make a central striker their next priority signing.

Kane is the leading scorer in the Champions League this season, with four goals so far. But Malen will be confident of adding to the three he has already scored in the competition against United and proving he can be just as hot outside Italy.