Mason Greenwood, his return to England, and how he ended up at Fenerbahce

It has been 1,726 days since Mason Greenwood last played a match in England.

Or, in other words, more than four and a half years. Greenwood has been in exile since January 2022, when he was first suspended by his boyhood club Manchester United. He then moved abroad, starting on loan at Getafe in Madrid before moving to the south of France to join Marseille and, in July this year, transferring to Fenerbahce in Istanbul.

On Wednesday evening, the 25-year-old will return to his home country, with Fenerbahce visiting Aston Villa in the Champions League.

“(He) obviously has a lot of quality,” defender Matty Cash said in the pre-match press conference. “I think we saw a few years ago at United and England. He broke in and was probably one of the best players in his position for a young boy as a forward. He’s got real quality. He then went to Marseille, and now at Fenerbahce, he’s still got really good attacking threat, and he’ll be coming to England and will want to prove himself again.”

Greenwood has, however, played Villa more recently on the continent. In a friendly match between Villa and Marseille last summer, Greenwood was involved in an altercation with defender Tyrone Mings.

Greenwood was seen laughing as he fouled and then pushed Amadou Onana. Mings then grabbed Greenwood by the shirt, ripping it and leading to a melee. Three more yellow cards were brandished to take the tally in the friendly to six. Greenwood was then substituted, leaving the pitch without a shirt on.

Mings and Greenwood clashed during a friendly last summerNeal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images

His last game in England was on January 22, 2022, with Manchester United beating West Ham United 1-0.

It was his 129th and final appearance for United, where he scored 35 goals and registered 12 assists. Greenwood had been a regular for over two years when the videos, images, and audio recordings containing allegations against him emerged online, eight days after the victory against West Ham.

Greenwood, whose solitary England cap came in September 2020, was arrested in January 2022 and subsequently charged with attempted rape, assault, and controlling or coercive behaviour. All three counts related to the same complainant. Photos and videos surfaced on social media.

Mason Greenwood has been at Manchester United since he was a boy. His story raises many questions for the club and the young player

He faced a police investigation. He has always denied any wrongdoing. All three charges against him were discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in February 2023.

The CPS said that “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”.

The criminal case came to an end, but Greenwood’s future as a United player, or as a player anywhere else in England, seemed over.

The club conducted its own investigation, seeking to learn more about the events that led to a complaint being made against him. This involved United representatives meeting with Greenwood.

United would later face scrutiny when The Athletic revealed in 2023 that before he joined Getafe, they were considering the option of reintroducing Greenwood to the first-team squad as part of a possible phased return.

Supporters and fan groups made their anger over the possibility known.

Greenwood played his last game for United in January 2022Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Getafe took Greenwood on a season-long loan at the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

Sources close to the situation, speaking at the time on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, said United offered Greenwood “to dozens of clubs”, with Getafe and Lazio advanced in their interest.

Shortly before he moved to Spain, Greenwood had been set to join Lazio. A private flight from Manchester to Rome had already been arranged. Late issues between United and Lazio enabled Getafe to move ahead.

The La Liga club could offer Greenwood a passage out of England, the attraction of living in Madrid and, crucially, with him having missed the entirety of the previous season suspended, plenty of game time.

Getafe sources, speaking at the time, said going for a player of Greenwood’s quality would be too good to turn down, viewing his availability as a market opportunity.

Yet, fundamentally, the reason he appeared on the table was because of what had happened in England 18 months earlier. Before his arrest, Greenwood was among the most promising talents in Europe, let alone his country.

To put it bluntly, Getafe were in this position because of the allegations. No other Premier League club, nor many in Europe, would link themselves to the controversy and scrutiny which would follow.

Getafe sources say they had looked into the legal case and the charges had been dropped by the time they took him on loan.

In the end, Greenwood’s season-long loan was regarded positively by those at Getafe. They were delighted with his attitude and he scored 10 goals in 36 appearances. As part of the agreement, they were entitled to a sell-on fee if and when United sold him.

Greenwood’s loan to Getafe was seen as a successAlvaro Medranda/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

Getafe had spent around €1million on 20 per cent of Greenwood’s salary during the season and went on to make around €11m from his two subsequent transfers to Marseille and Fenerbahce. United had agreed to the future incentive for Getafe in light of the circumstances around Greenwood.

Greenwood spent two years at Marseille, who also agreed to United inserting a significant sell-on clause to go with the initial package worth €31.6m.

“I don’t want to get involved in anyone’s private life,” Roberto De Zerbi, his former head coach at Marseille, said in November. “All I can see is that Mason seems a good lad; he paid in a strong way for what happened. He has probably here found the right environment for him, which gave him affection and held out its hand to him.

“When I look at him as a person, I feel sad for what happened in his life, without getting into the details. Because the person I know here is very different to the one that has been described, especially in England.”

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De Zerbi would later apologise for his comments when he became Tottenham Hotspur head coach, acknowledging he “wasn’t surprised” by the strong reaction to his sentiments.

The agreement to join Marseille itself was complex. When Greenwood left for Fenerbahce this summer, having finished joint-second in Ligue 1’s scoring standings with 16 league goals last season, United had agreed terms whereby they would receive 40 per cent of the overall fee (€39m plus bonuses), but 20 per cent was to go to Getafe.

Greenwood played under De Zerbi at MarseilleJean Catuffe/Getty Images

Three clubs later, Greenwood finds himself back in England. Fenerbahce is a club with a propensity to sign high-profile players who are either past their peak or have some form of baggage attached. And as is often the case, Greenwood was a presidential signing.

In June, when former president Aziz Yildirim was vying for the club presidency with Hakan Safi, the latter announced he had reached an agreement with Greenwood, in an attempt to convince his audience.

Yildirim would later triumph, but interest remained in Greenwood. The attacker signed a few weeks after Yildirim’s election victory.

One senior figure involved in Fenerbahce’s recent recruitment said that because of the announcement made by Safi, there was pressure on Yildirim for the signing to be made.

“Maybe (Yildirim) already wanted Greenwood, but I think a lot of it was to do with the pressure (from fans). The Fenerbahce idea in general now is to bring (in) players, not only the ones coming to the end of their career, but also younger players.

“Turkey is normally players wanting their last contracts: see N’Golo Kante and Romelu Lukaku now. But it has been important to bring players in their prime. He performed at a top level for Marseille, so Greenwood’s signing is a big success for the club.”

Greenwood has four league goals in seven games for FenerAli Atmaca/Anadolu via Getty Images

Other European teams were reportedly interested in Greenwood over the summer, yet there have been no takers in the Premier League since he left England.

“A small proportion of Fenerbahce supporters reacted negatively to this transfer,” says Samet Cayir, a Fenerbahce reporter for Turkish newspaper FANATIK.

“However, this figure does not even exceed one per cent. These are the views of Fenerbahce supporters. Galatasaray and Besiktas supporters, on the other hand, are critical on social media because of this incident from the past. But if he had signed for Galatasaray, the Galatasaray supporters who are currently criticising him would remain silent, and Fenerbahce supporters would hate him. The logic is simple.

“Fenerbahce fans love him and have high hopes for him.”

But the strength of feeling towards Greenwood in his home country remains acute. Four years and nine months after his last outing in England, he is expected to receive a hostile reception at Villa Park.