Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said that Manchester United will carry out a fresh assessment on the future of Mason Greenwood, at least opening the door to the possibility that he plays for the club again.
Greenwood, who was charged with assault, attempted rape and coercive control in the months following his 2022 arrest, was thought to have played his last game for United by the time he was loaned to Getafe towards the end of last summer’s transfer window.
Having conducted their own internal investigation after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the case owing to the withdrawal of key witnesses and new evidence coming to light, United were thought to be leaning towards reintegrating Greenwood until an enormous backlash.
Ratcliffe hasn’t given an indication that Greenwood, who remains under contract until 2025 with an option until 2026, definitely will put on a United shirt again. But his comments confirm that the situation will at least be looked afresh and a permanent decision then made.
“We will make a decision and we will justify it,” Ratcliffe told assembled journalists in his first external media duties since his buy-in was made official.
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“He’s a Manchester United footballer so we are in charge of football. So the answer is yes, 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 a fair decision on the basis of values which is basically is he a good guy or not, and answer could he play sincerely for Manchester United well and would we be comfortable with it and would the fans be comfortable with it.”
