1
Former Manchester United attacker Mason Greenwood is being carefully sheltered by new club Olympique de Marseille.
The Englishman was officially sold by United last summer after spending a successful loan spell at Getafe last year.
He has made an electric start to life in France, scoring eight goals and grabbing two assists in only 11 Ligue 1 matches.
RMC Sport have taken a deep dive into how the 23 year old has adapted and been carefully looked after while at the club.
From day one, the French side have “taken a number of measures to protect and integrate him” as they knew the controversy that would surround the move after the sexual assault case that terminated his United career.
This protection extends to even “turning a blind eye if the Englishman is slightly offside on a goal scored in training or if a ball has perhaps crossed the boundaries of the field. When in doubt, it is better to give confidence to his ‘star’ striker.”
Nonetheless, coach Roberto De Zerbi has not mollycoddled the striker as he has lavished praise at times but also issued stern warnings when necessary.
This could be seen when the 23 year old was subbed off at half-time versus Paris Saint-Germain with the Italian directly stating after the match, “I didn’t like the way he played.”
Despite this, the former Brighton and Hove Albion coach knows he has a “gifted student” but who does not always give 100% of his effort.
Marseille remain convinced they made the right call to sign the former United man and have been delighted with how he has adapted to the club and life in France.
“The OM management first has a very close relationship of trust with Greenwood’s father. The latter lives alongside the player and his family. He accompanies him or picks him up from training. And regularly shares his protégé’s feelings with Marseille.”
Greenwood is described as living a normal life where he spends a lot of his time between home and the training ground.
Marseille have done much to make the Englishman feel protected and “has redoubled their efforts to ensure that Greenwood feels surrounded.”
They “feared that the player would sometimes be heckled and mistreated by the public during away matches. Marseille paid the greatest attention to this, even if it meant discussing it in advance with the opposing clubs.”
Despite his quietness, Greenwood has reportedly made numerous friends in the Marseille dressing room and is seen as “very polite and kind” by his teammates.
“The Englishman has affinities with Amine Harit. He has also forged links with his compatriot Jonathan Rowe and the Canadians Derek Cornelius and Ismaël Koné. The relationship is also very good between him and the younger players in the locker room, like Darryl Bakola.”
Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has also claimed that Greenwood is “very popular” in the dressing room and is feeling very comfortable in his new home and league.
Finally, the club have deliberately sheltered him from media duties as he has acclimatised to his new surroundings but they know this cannot go on forever and he will one day, “make his return” in front of microphones and cameras in the club’s “quest for normality”.
Feature image Miguel Medina via Getty Images
