With five goals in three matches, Englishman Mason Greenwood has had a successful debut in Marseille, where the controversies and tensions that accompanied his arrival have partly dissipated.
Greenwood could simply be the top scorer in Ligue 1, an above-average talent on French pitches and the number one asset of Roberto De Zerbi’s new OM. But he is also the former Manchester United star, selected for England at 18, whose career has been marred by serious accusations of domestic violence.
The charges have since been dropped, Greenwood (22) lives with the young woman who accused him and posted photos of his injuries online and they have a child together. But the controversy has not logically died down and the recruitment of the Englishman by OM has sparked much debate and opposition.
“We are very happy with the start of the season that he has had and the way he behaves with us in Marseille,” repeated Marseille president Pablo Longoria this week, when questioned again on the subject during a conference in Portugal.
To his interlocutors, the president of OM assured that he had taken all the necessary precautions by increasing contacts with the player’s family and with the directors of Manchester United and Getafe, the Spanish club where Greenwood relaunched last season after being suspended by the Premier League and where Longoria knows many people.
– “major fault” –
“I am the first to understand that Mason’s arrival raises many questions, many interrogations. But we are talking about the past (…) It is a complex and old situation,” the Spanish leader also declared during the press conference to present the Englishman.
The exchange with the media had been quite tense and the OM staff was then faced with headwinds, the arrival of Greenwood being contested by a section of the public, by associations and even the mayor Benoit Payan, who was particularly angry.
“I will ask the president of OM not to recruit Greenwood. I do not want my club to be covered in the shame of someone who hits his wife. It is not acceptable,” declared the mayor before the signing of the young striker, referring to “a major fault”.
Publicly, the matter did not go any further and Payan was in the official stands at the Vélodrome, alongside Longoria and club owner Frank McCourt, when Greenwood scored Marseille’s equaliser against Reims three weeks ago (2-2).
– close to Harit –
At the stadium itself, the Englishman’s popularity rating is beyond doubt – his name was cheered during the presentation of the recruits before the match against Reims and the jerseys bearing his name are countless – while on social networks, the opposition remains significant.
“I understand the questions, I don’t want to talk about it too much or get into debates and controversies. I’m trying to move forward, I’m focusing on football. I want me, my partner and my daughter to be happy in Marseille,” the player simply explained upon his arrival.
Since then, he has discreetly blended into the life of OM, always accompanied by his father, omnipresent, and never far from Amine Harit, with whom he quickly bonded.
Questioned several times on the subject, De Zerbi did not venture much outside the beaten track: “Mason is a very high-level player (…) There have been a lot of words and controversies. I do not want to enter into his private life, I know nothing and do not want to know anything. With us, he is a good boy, a good person”, he said.
In England, however, there is no question of absolution yet. New coach Lee Carsley assured this week that a return of Greenwood to the England jersey was “not envisaged”.
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