25 February 2024 , 02:00
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It would be easy to take pot-shots at Sir Jim Ratcliffe for certain things he said during a round of media interviews on Wednesday but, overall, he came across as genuine in his noble mission to bring the glory days back to Old Trafford.
It is one hell of a tough mission and if his briefing ahead of his chat with the BBC and with newspaper reporters was not exhaustive, that is fully understandable. Ratcliffe cannot be fully across everything United this early into his co-ownership and the world’s richest business tycoons tend to be busy people.
So, let’s give Ratcliffe the benefit of considerable doubt when considering his response to the Mason Greenwood question. When he was asked about Greenwood, Sir Jim’s rambling answer sounded like someone playing for time until he was properly informed of all that preceded the striker’s loan move to Getafe.
And when he has been properly informed, Ratcliffe will surely arrive swiftly at the conclusion that Greenwood cannot play for United again. When he spoke about Greenwood last week, Ratcliffe said: “Is he the right type of footballer? Is he a good person or not?” Well, the club conducted a six-month investigation into whether Greenwood was ‘the right type of footballer’ for Manchester United - and decided he was not.
When it was mooted the club might reintegrate him into the Old Trafford fold after charges of attempted rape, assault and coercive control were dropped, there was considerable discomfort and anger amongst many members of United staff. And it would have been no surprise if that had been the decisive factor in sending Greenwood away.
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It should be a decisive factor in not bringing him back to the club. The time he has spent away at Getafe should make no difference. If the club thought he was not suitable to wear the shirt back then, it should be exactly the same now. Nothing has changed.
Is Ratcliffe really going to read up on the background and tell people who might still be there that they were wrong and Greenwood IS suitable to play for United? No, surely he is not going to do that. Instead, the more contentious decision Ratcliffe and the newly-formed United boardroom hierarchy will have to make is over the financial nature of Greenwood’s permanent departure.
Mason Greenwood has been spending the season on loan at Getafe (PA)If you are a buying club, why offer big money for a Manchester United player who has no future there? Greenwood might have done half-decently at Getafe but there is unlikely to be a bidding war for him. And it would hardly be the most dignified look for United to start playing hardball with a transfer fee.
The best way out all round would be for Greenwood to stay away on loan somewhere and then walk away for good when his contract ends in the summer of next year. But, however he goes, he has to go.
“It’s quite clear we have to make a decision,” Ratcliffe said. No, that decision has already been made … and it would be the first big mistake of Sir Jim’s noble mission if he went back on it.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been fielding a variety of questions about Manchester United (AFP via Getty Images)