The Getafe coach, José Bordalás, believes the Spanish club can help restore the career of Mason Greenwood but that the controversy around the Manchester United striker is not to be taken lightly.
Greenwood has joined Getafe on a season-long loan after 19 months of inactivity at Old Trafford. The player was charged by Greater Manchester police with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault in October 2022 after allegations were made online. The charges, all of which Greenwood denied, were dropped in February this year, with the Crown Prosecution Service saying “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”.
Bordalás addressed the issue after his club were beaten 2-1 by Real Madrid at the refurbished Santiago Bernabéu stadium. “It’s too delicate a subject to treat lightly,” he said. “Everyone knows what happened and the appropriate measures were taken. We can only talk about football, obviously. The relevant bodies did what had to be done.”
Bordalás appeared confused by the legal details of the case but went on: “Everyone knows what happened and that it ended with a sentence that did not find him guilty [sic]. He’s a footballer of an extremely high level and he arrives at Getafe with huge enthusiasm. We will try to help him to get back to his best level.”
There are fears, particularly in the wake of the backlash surrounding the unsolicited kiss of Jenni Hermoso by the Spanish football federation president, Luis Rubiales, after the Women’s World Cup final, that supporters may reject him and protest against the loan move. Yet Bordalás insisted Getafe were keen to help Greenwood.
“I can only talk about it in footballing terms,” he said. “We all know the potential he has. He is a very young boy, he is still only 21, and we hope that he can adapt to a very different league. We all know the potential he has and if physically he can get back – and I am sure of that – he will want to recover the professional status he had and Getafe can help him to do so.”