The British footballer arrives on loan for a season from Manchester United, who separated him after a process in which the charges were dropped
He has not played since January 2022, when his partner reported having been the victim of assault and attempted rape
LaLiga closed the summer transfer market for the 2023/2024 season with a broadcast in which most of the names that were going to set off the alarm were intuited. It was an almost scripted event, until a name appeared on the table that had a strong sporting and social impact: Mason Greenwood was going to Getafe loaned for a season.
The player around whom Manchester United wanted to build their project one day, along with other names of young promises. the same as ended up disowned and definitively separated after a trial for rape and assault. A process in which the charges were dropped. He was not acquitted. Neither found guilty or innocent. The process fell into a deadlock, the same one in which the player was until last Friday.
A process suspended due to lack of participation
Greenwood, a right winger with brilliant athleticism, hasn’t played a soccer game since January 22, 2022. Right at the end of that month, Harriet Robsonhis partner at the time, accused him of rape and physical violence for acts committed between 2018 and 2021.
Robson published a video and audio on her Instagram account where she was seen bleeding and with different bruises, allegedly assaulted by the new Getafe player. “For everyone who wants to know what Mason Greenwood really makes me”, indicated the comment that accompanied the post.
Arrested in January 2022, released in February and arrested AGAIN for not respecting his judicial control, he was released again in October of last year. Almost a year after the complaint, Greenwood saw the charges against him of “rape, assault and coercive behavior” dropped.
The Crown Prosecution Service (equivalent to the Prosecutor’s Office) suspended the case against the player, because “there is no longer a realistic prospect of the sentence” after key witnesses failed to cooperate in the investigation. Greenwood denied all of the alleged wrongdoing. Known these facts, Manchester United opened an internal investigation.
United have collaborated in the departure of Greenwood
On August 21, the English club announced that it was removing Greenwood by “mutual agreement”. He did so with a statement in which they recognized “the difficulty for him to continue his career at United.” Hence, they agreed “jointly that the most appropriate thing for him will be to resume his career away from Old Trafford and we will continue to work with Mason to achieve this.“.
“Based on the evidence available to us, we concluded that the material posted online did not give a complete picture of the situation, and that Mason had not committed the offenses for which he was initially charged“, defended the ‘red devils’. They added, however, that “as Mason publicly acknowledges, he has made mistakes for which he assumes responsibility.”
After the exclusion of United’s dynamics became official, Greenwood explained in an official statement: “I want to start by saying that I understand that people will judge me by what they have seen and heard on social media -the videos and audios of the alleged aggression-; and I know that people will think the worst.” The young footballer’s text concluded as follows: “I did not do the things that I was accused of and in February I was acquitted of all charges.”
The sanitary cordon of the Premier and Saudi Arabia
That same term, “absolve”, was used by United in their farewell to a player who made his professional debut in 2019. Although the legal reality, according to the treatment that the English press made of the event, was that of “dropped charges”. In any case, the relationship between Manchester United and a footballer who wore his shirt 129 times, in which he scored 35 goals, reached this point. All, despite the fact that Greenwood had renewed his contract in 2021 until 2025.
During this time of suspension, there are several who have been interested in taking over the services of Greenwood, but no team wanted to assume the reputational risk that a contract like Greenwood’s implied. No matter how events unfolded, because the player’s image was damaged by the demonstrations and voices against his return to the courts.
One of the first to block his way was Gareth Southgate, who expressed his desire not to have him for the England team again. Similarly, a sanitary cordon was extended throughout the Premier League. TOSaudi rage was envisioned as one of the likely destinationsa country where Santi Mina played on loan last season, sentenced in July this year by the Andalusian TSJ to four years in prison for sexual abuse (without the need for a Supreme Court decision, Celta fired him in August).
However, in the new international consolidation phase of the Saudi league, which has undergone a galactic market, Greenwood has not had a place. Even more so because the country has applied to host the Women’s Asian Cup. Finally, the English winger has found refuge at Getafe, where he will play on loan for one season. In the communication of the transfer, the club limited itself to compiling his sports statistics. In July, Benjamin Mendy, formerly of Manchester City, signed for French club Lorient after being found not guilty for several attempted rapes.