Manchester United decision on Mason Greenwood finally expected before new season (2024)

Manchester United’s pre-season begins today (Thursday), with players who were not involved in the June internationals due in at their Carrington base. Mason Greenwood will not be among them.

It is 154 days since United launched an internal investigation into their player, after the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service discontinued its case against him for attempted rape, assault, and coercive control. But still a decision has not been made about his professional future.

It was January 2022 when Greenwood was arrested, meaning 2023-24 would be a third season in which the matter hangs over the club. However, the culmination of United’s disciplinary process is approaching and although there is not a defined end-point, it is expected there will be a resolution before the start of the Premier League campaign on the second weekend in August.

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While the outcome is not yet known, there is an impression that United are minded to keep Greenwood contracted to the club. That would mean steering clear of terminating his contract or negotiating a departure, and leaving the options of bringing him back to the first team or sending him out on loan.

The situation is complicated and delicate, though, with a widespread belief there is a split in opinion on what to do between the football side of operations at United and the commercial department.

Any mention of Greenwood provokes a fierce reaction on social media. The audio and photographs which preceded the police action have, for many, left a deep impression of somebody who should not be given the platform of Old Trafford.

Online, there are expressions of care for the woman involved, who is granted anonymity for life.

Sportwear firm Nike dropped Greenwood as an athlete and club sponsors have conveyed their feelings about his employment to United staff.

Yet there are also people at the club with a sporting perspective who believe he should be given the chance to pull on the United shirt again. For a player who joined the club’s academy aged six, they feel a duty to offer a path to rehabilitation.

At the top, Erik ten Hag is open to having Greenwood in his squad at some stage. Ten Hag will take his lead from the findings of the investigation, but purely based on football he can see a place for the 21-year-old England international. The manager’s voice carries weight.

Ultimately the decision is expected to rest with chief executive Richard Arnold, in tandem with the club’s co-owner Joel Glazer, based on the report carried out by other executives.

United are aware of the significant difficulties that would be associated with reintegrating Greenwood. Some planning on how it might be possible has already taken place.

A loan deal is seen as a viable alternative by people around the club, as a means to observe the reaction to his appearance on a football pitch again without him playing under the glare of United.

Tentative inquiries have been made to the club about a temporary move, with interest from Italy.

Greenwood has been training privately for several months, in the full knowledge of United. Those with understanding of the sessions say he feels he could reach proper match sharpness quickly, despite his last game coming in January of last year.

He has been suspended on full pay for 18 months and in that time United have been put up for sale by the Glazer family.

Negotiations over that “strategic review” have also taken much longer than expected, leading some to speculate the Greenwood issue was being kicked down the road in tandem. But those familiar with the investigation insist the ownership uncertainty is not a factor in the length of time taken to reach this point, and that instead all these weeks of waiting for news are reflective of the club’s thoroughness and seriousness in the process.

For many observers, all that is required to make a decision on Greenwood’s United career is that footage posted on Instagram, which was visceral and deeply troubling.

Members of the United women’s team are known to have an issue with a proposed return for Greenwood. Whether they would be consulted in advance is unclear.

But legally, Greenwood has no case to answer. That is what has left United in this position. Sacking Greenwood would bring its own complications, as explained here.

The backdrop to the Greenwood situation is that United are in the market for a new centre-forward, but the club cannot allow that to influence their decision.

The club’s responses to earlier minor indiscretions by Greenwood, as detailed by The Athletic previously, can be questioned. Whatever they decide to do now will be scrutinised intensely.

(Photo: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP via Getty Images)

Laurie Whitwell worked for the Daily Mail from 2010, covering midlands football for the last five years, including Leicester’s remarkable Premier League triumph. Whitwell was nominated for sports scoop of the year at the 2019 SJAs for breaking Wayne Rooney’s move to DC United. He will be reporting on Manchester United for The Athletic. Follow Laurie on Twitter @lauriewhitwell