Mason Greenwood's Getafe adventure begins away from Manchester United
- Rob Fleming
- 5 September 2023
Mason Greenwood has trained with Getafe for the first time and been welcomed by fans following his loan move from Manchester United.
United announced last month that the 21-year-old, who will be officially presented as a Getafe player on Tuesday evening, would be continuing his career away from the club.
Greenwood was suspended by the Old Trafford club on January 30, 2022 over allegations relating to a young woman after images and videos were posted online.
Greenwood faced charges including attempted rape and assault, but the Crown Prosecution Service announced in February that the case had been discontinued.
Reports that United were planning to retain him following an internal investigation were met by a public outcry and on September 1 it was confirmed he would head to Spain for the season.
Getafe have been promoting Greenwood's arrival heavily on social media and, in a video message on X, formerly known as Twitter, the once-capped England forward said: "Hi Getafe fans, it's Mason here. I'm so happy to be here and I can't wait to get started."
Other posts showed Greenwood, who last played a competitive match back in January 2022, coming out of the tunnel to applause from fans in the stadium before taking part in an open training session.
Speaking at a press conference following Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Real Madrid – a match Greenwood was not involved in – Getafe boss Jose Bordalas said of the allegations against the forward: "It is a very delicate situation to trivialise that issue.
"Everyone knows what happened and appropriate measures were taken. Everyone knows how it ended, with a non-convictory sentence.
"He is a footballer of a very high level and arrives at Getafe with enormous enthusiasm."
Asked if signing Greenwood might prompt an unfavourable reaction, Bordalas added: "I can only speak at a footballing level.
"We all know the potential he has. He is a very young boy and we hope that he adapts to a very different League. Surely he wants to recover his professional status and Getafe can help him in that sense."
A product of United's academy, Greenwood scored 35 goals in 129 matches for the Red Devils.
Greenwood is contracted at Old Trafford until June 2025, with the deal including an option to extend by a further year.
