Roberto De Zerbi makes slightly tone-deaf comments about Mason Greenwood

Marseille manager Roberto De Zerbi has made slightly tone-deaf comments about former Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood after his impressive start to life with the Ligue 1 club.

Greenwood left Man Utd for Marseille this summer, and scored twice in his debut appearance in the French top flight, earning big praise from De Zerbi.

The Italian tactician is also a new addition to OM, having left Brighton at the end of last season for this new chapter, and it seems he’s really happy to be working with Greenwood.

Speaking about Greenwood after yesterday’s game, De Zerbi stated that he hoped the 22-year-old’s performance would end the controversy in the media surrounding the player, which is perhaps a bit of an insensitive way to talk about the very serious allegations that were made against him during his time at United.

As previously reported by BBC Sport, Greenwood was arrested on charges of attempted rape and assault, though these charges were later dropped.

This led to Greenwood being suspended by United and eventually sold, so it seems slightly tone-deaf of De Zerbi to simply refer to this as something as superficial as media controversy.

As quoted by the Mail, the Marseille boss said: “He’s just exceptional. He’s a great player and it shows.

“I’m happy to see him score to end all the controversy in the media.”

It will be interesting to see how Greenwood’s career progresses from here, but there will still surely be Marseille fans who aren’t too happy that this signing went ahead.

The Mayor of Marseille, Benoit Payan also notably spoke out against the signing amid a backlash and fan petitions at the time.

De Zerbi clearly seems happy to work with Greenwood, though, but it’s going to be an interesting challenge for him to handle this issue sensitively in the media.