Getafe chief defends Mason Greenwood signing as on-loan Man Utd forward unveiled

Mason Greenwood was unveiled as a Getafe player on Tuesday, following his deadline-day loan from Manchester United to Getafe.

The forward joined the Spanish side minutes before the window shut last Friday, just 11 days after United confirmed that Greenwood would continue his career away from Old Trafford, following criminal charges against the player which were dropped in February.

The 21-year-old’s arrival at Getafe has resulted in a huge upswing of social media content from the club’s recently created English Twitter page. Getafe posted clips of Greenwood’s shirt being printed, a welcome message from the player, clips of the striker taking part in a training session, along with captions such as ‘MasonMainia’ and ‘We love you, @masongreenwood’.

On Tuesday night, the player was presented to around 4,000 fans at the club’s stadium, along with fellow deadline-day arrivals Oscar Rodríguez and Diego Rico. Greenwood’s partner also posted a picture of a Getafe shirt with ‘Daddy, 12’ on the back.

As per the Guardian, there was no form of protest by fans at Greenwood’s unveiling, and he also didn’t face any media questions at Tuesday’s event due to an agreement between United and Getafe. Greenwood did, however, reveal he has been working on his fitness during his time away from football.

“I am very happy to be here,” he said. "I have been training for four or five months, I am getting up to speed and have been training with my team-mates and feel quite good.”

Meanwhile, Getafe’s president Ruben Reyes claimed on Tuesday that Greenwood was ‘just the same’ as his other deadline-day signings, and added the club are excited by his arrival. “We did what we do: sign players that are available to sign,” Reyes said.

“There is no need for us to handle anything [off the pitch]. We have signed a footballer who is just the same as Diego Rico and Oscar Rodríguez, and that’s it. We have to do our job, and that’s what we focus on.

“We’re very excited with him,” he continued. “He was a player that we knew was out there. We worked on it, gathered information and bit by bit we saw that there could be a possibility. We spoke to his family, to his dad, to his people for a long time. We were able to convince him to come here, to trust in us. We’re satisfied. He plays very free, as if he was on a school playground. He has a very high level. We dreamed that we could bring him here, and sometimes that gets fulfilled.”

Greenwood has not played a match since January 2022, the same month he was arrested and subsequently charged with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault. Those charges were dropped in February, with United launching an internal investigation into the matter.

The club decided that while they were convinced he was not guilty of the allegations made against him, Greenwood’s career would be best served away from Old Trafford. Greenwood has always denied the charges against him, but admitted to making ‘mistakes’ in his relationship.