9 months ago
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Mason Greenwood will reject Barcelona’s advances if Manchester United indicate that he will welcomed back in the summer.
United’s hierarchy decided Greenwood, 22, should recommence his career elsewhere after the forward was arrested on suspicion of rape, controlling behaviour and assault in January 2022 – charges that were later dropped.
Greenwood subsequently completed a season-long loan move to Getafe last September and the young attacker has caught the eye with seven goals in 24 appearances for the La Liga outfit this season.
A potential summer deal for Greenwood – who hasn’t played for United in over two years – has put Europe’s elite clubs on red alert, with the likes of Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Barca all credited with an interest in the England international in recent weeks.
However, new United co-owner Ratcliffe suggested Greenwood could still have a future with the Red Devils as he addressed the media following his partial takeover at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
‘We will make a decision, correct,’ Ratcliffe said.
‘All I can do is talk about the principle of how we will approach decisions like that. Is he the right type of footballer, are we happy with if he is a good person or not?’
Ratcliffe added: ‘He’s a Manchester United footballer, so we are in charge of football.
‘So the answer is, ‘yeah, we have to make decisions’. It’s quite clear we have to make a decision. There is no decision that’s been made. He’s on-loan obviously, but he’s not the only one. We’ve got one or two footballers that we have to deal with and we have to make a decision on, so we will do that.
‘The process will be: understand the facts not the hype, and then try and come to fair decision on the basis of values, which is basically is he a good guy or not?
‘Could he play sincerely for Manchester United well, would we be comfortable with it and would the fans be comfortable with it?’
In a separate interview with the BBC, Ratcliffe stressed that the club would need to use careful consideration when making a decision on Greenwood.
‘We need to look at facts, judge fairly and take into consideration what the values of the club are,’ he said.
‘Then we come out of that with a decision. It is not appropriate for me to comment on Mason Greenwood.’
According to The Sun, Greenwood feels he has a ‘debt’ to repay United supporters and head coach Erik ten Hag after leaving Manchester for Spain six months ago.
The forward, who joined United at the age of six, would be prepared to snub the likes of Barca, Juve and Atleti should they come calling, as long as United and Ten Hag clear the path for his return.
‘Mason respected the decision Manchester United made to send him to Spain, but he always wanted to return to the team after the police investigation involving him came to an end,’ a source told The Sun.
‘He believes he has a debt to repay the fans and the manager and would love a second chance. To him, Manchester United is the biggest and best club in the world and if a chance emerged for him to go back he would.
‘Barcelona are among a number of clubs interested in signing him. But if United threw him a lifeline to resurrect his career at Old Trafford, he’d be on the quickest flight home.’
The report claims Barcelona have been keeping close tabs on Greenwood all season and that the Englishman had previously informed his team that a move to the Camp Nou would be his ‘dream’.
But Ten Hag is open to the idea of reintroducing Greenwood into United’s squad, with the forward yet to play under the Dutchman.
Greenwood last featured for the Red Devils back in January 2022 and Ten Hag took charge of the club three months later following Ralf Rangnick’s departure as interim manager.
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