Premier league Giant Manchester united has confirmed 21-years Mason Greenwood move to Getafe on loan.
The club announced earlier that Greenwood would not play for the club again.
Greenwood was arrested on suspicion of rape, assault and making threats to kill in January 2022 and has not appeared for United since. He denied all the charges, which were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in February.
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United carried out their own internal investigation and decided that his future should be spent elsewhere.
Greenwood, who remains contracted to United until 2025, has now moved to pastures new by signing for La Liga side Getafe on loan for the season.
United said: “The move enables Greenwood to begin to rebuild his career away from Manchester United. “The club will continue to offer its support to Mason and his family during this period of transition.”
Greenwood’s last appearance for United
Greenwood’s last appearance for United was in their 1-0 win over West Ham united in January last year. He has 129 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 35 goals and assisting another 12.
The forward will now spend a season on loan at Getafe side who finished 15th in La Liga last season. It remains to be seen when he will make his debut for the club, with his new side playing Real Madrid on Saturday the 2nd of September 2023.
The 21-year-old was not part of United’s plans any longer and with little time left in the transfer window once a decision was made over the player’s future, a loan move looked likeliest.
Greenwood made his debut for Manchester United in the 2018/19 season, and has played 129 games for United, scoring 35 goals, and has a single England international cap, earned in 2020.
Incident that led to Greenwood’s departure from old Trafford
Mason Greenwood was charged with attempted rape and assault in January 2022, he was arrested in January following allegations that emerged in images and videos posted online.
For this reason he was removed from the squad and has been in dentention for one year and some months.
The 21-year-old, who has made one appearance for the senior England men’s team, has not played or trained with Manchester United since his arrest.
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The alleged attempted rape is said to have occurred on 22nd October 2021, while the alleged assault took place on in December 2021.
Prosecutors drop attempted rape case against Greenwood
The Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood is no longer facing criminal charges over attempted rape after prosecutors dropped the case against him.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction” after key witnesses withdrew their cooperation from the investigation.
Greenwood, aged 21, was arrested and later charged with attempted rape after an investigation launched in January 2022. The striker, who has played once for England, denied the charges and had been preparing to go on trial later this year until the CPS dropped the case this year.
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A CPS spokesperson said: “We have a duty to keep cases under continuous review. In this case, a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction. In these circumstances, we are under a duty to stop the case.
“We have explained our decision to all parties. We would always encourage any potential victims to come forward and report to police and we will prosecute wherever our legal test is met.”
Mason Greenwood had been due to stand trial in November this year after being charged with attempted rape, assault and “repeatedly engaging” in coercive and controlling behaviour.
He was accused of attempting to rape the complainant in October 2021 – a charge he denied – and of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in December that year.
After the criminal charges against Greenwood were dropped in February 2023 due to “the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light”, United began their own investigation into the events that caused his initial 2022 arrest.
According to reportings, United did not have all the evidence gathered by prosecutors, instead requiring the cooperation of the involved parties to provide evidence; the alleged victim never engaged directly with United for the investigation, but the alleged victim’s mother did engage with United.
Greenwood gave United explanations regarding the publicly released audio and images, which the alleged victim’s family did not contest; ultimately the club’s investigation decided that Greenwood had not committed the initial offenses and that there were no grounds to terminate his contract.
In August 2023, Manchester United publicly announced that the club was in its “final stages” of considering Greenwood’s future at the club, after having completed an investigation into the allegations that caused his 2022 arrest.
United said that their investigation “has drawn on extensive evidence and context not in the public domain”, and also stressed that the club has “responsibilities to Mason as an employee, as a young person who has been with the club since the age of seven, and as a new father with a partner.”
The above statement generated objections to Greenwood’s return from both United’s staff and the public. Among those who publicly criticised the club’s handling of Greenwood’s case were domestic violence charity Women’s Aid and Stretford and Urmston MP Andrew Western.
Given the backlash, the club’s top executives changed their minds by 18 August, deciding that Greenwood should not return.
On 21st August 2023, United announced that Greenwood would be leaving the club, stating that “we will now work with Mason to achieve that outcome”.
According to United, the investigation result was that “the material posted online did not provide a full picture and that Mason did not commit the offences in respect of which he was originally charged”, but Greenwood “made mistakes which he is taking responsibility for” and there are “difficulties with him recommencing his career” with United.
On the same day, Greenwood made a statement acknowledging that he would leave United; stating: “I was brought up to know that violence or abuse in any relationship is wrong, I did not do the things I was accused of, I fully accept I made mistakes in my relationship, and I take my share of responsibility for the situations which led to the social media post.”
Greenwood’s football profile before attempted rape case
Mason Greenwood is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Getafe, on loan from Premier League club Manchester United.
A graduate of United’s youth system, Greenwood scored in a UEFA Europa League match against Astana in September 2019, to become the club’s youngest ever goalscorer in European competition at the age of 17.
His senior international debut for England came in September 2020, in a UEFA Nations League game against Iceland.
In January 2022, Greenwood was arrested on suspicion of raping and assaulting a woman, and a few days later on suspicion of sexual assault and threats to kill.
Since then, Greenwood has not trained with, or appeared for, either his club or his national team. He was charged in October 2022 for attempted rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and controlling and coercive behaviour.
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In February 2023, all charges against him were dropped. In August 2023, Greenwood and Manchester United announced that he will leave the club.
Greenwood joined Manchester United at the age of six, playing at the club’s development school in Halifax. After progressing through the academy ranks, he joined up with the Under-18 squad for the 2017/18 season, despite being eligible for the Under-16s, and finished as top scorer of the U18 Premier League North with 17 goals in 21 games.
In May 2018, Greenwood was named Player of the Tournament as the youth side won the ICGT Trophy, an international youth football tournament, in the Netherlands.
On 14 August 2021, Greenwood scored his first goal of the season in a 5:1 win over Leeds in Manchester United’s opening match of the 2021/22 Premier League season.
Fifteen days later, he scored the goal that secured a 1:0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, becoming the second teenager in Premier League history after Robbie Fowler to score in each of his team’s first three games of a season, and helped United breaking the record of most consecutive away matches undefeated in English football history with 28.
Greenwood had scored 32 career goals for United by the time he turned 20 in October, with only Norman Whiteside and George Best scoring more goals for the club as a teenager. He was one of 10 players nominated for the Kopa Trophy in 2021.
In November, it was announced that he had finished fifth, behind Pedri, Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala and Nuno Mendes.
On 8 December, Greenwood scored his first goal in the 2021/22 Champions League, against Young Boys in a 1:1 draw in interim manager Ralf Rangnick’s first Champions League game with the club. On 30th January 2022, Greenwood was suspended by United after he was arrested on that day.
On Friday 1st September 2023, Greenwood joined La Liga club Getafe on loan for the 2023/24 season.
