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Getafe will profit from a 20% sell-on clause should Mason Greenwood be sold by Manchester United next year, as part of a unique loan deal agreed between the two clubs last summer.
Greenwood has not played for United since being suspended by the club following his arrest by Greater Manchester Police on suspicion of rape and assault. He was subsequently charged in October of the same year with attempted rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour.
These charges were then discontinued in February 2023, with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) stating:
“a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.”
Greenwood has always denied these charges.
United had refused to comment on the legal proceedings against their player prior to this point. With the allegations against him dropped, however, the club opened an internal investigation into the matter, designed to offer a path forward for a person who was still technically their employee.
This investigation reached an eventual conclusion towards the end of last summer (August), with Richard Arnold, Chief Executive at the time, privately planning to “try and re-integrate the forward” to the senior squad.
This plan was leaked by The Athletic and met with widespread condemnation in response. The story crossed the divide between football and wider society, with high-profile United fans and members of Parliament publicly expressing their repudiation of the alleged plan.
The executive branch at Old Trafford hastily changed tac in light of the uproar, reversing their decision to re-integrate Greenwood, instead outlining a plan which would see the player leave United and resume his football career elsewhere.
With less than a few weeks left in the summer transfer window at this point in August, the club were desperate to secure a season-long loan move for Greenwood; a deal which would see him leave Old Trafford in the short term, but give the club ample time to decide upon his long-term permanent departure.
The public furore over the 22-year-old remains severe, however.
Many clubs decided to pass on such a deal, despite Greenwood’s prodigious talents with a football, due to fears of social backlash. As such, Getafe, a club that would normally only be able to dream of securing such a player, quickly became a viable option for United, with a loan move agreed in the dying hours of the summer window.
Dan Sheldon (The Athletic) reveals a deal was struck between the La Liga and Premier League sides, in part, because Getafe were “not only prepared to sign Greenwood on loan, but also parade the arrival all over social media in the face of a backlash.” The Spanish club were taking an enormous risk by signing a player with Greenwood’s situation, who had also not played senior football for over eighteen months.
Excl: Getafe stand to profit from a 20 per cent sell-on clause inserted into Mason Greenwood’s loan deal if the Manchester United striker is sold elsewhere. #MUFC
Story w/ @GuillermoRai_ @TheAthleticFC⬇️ https://t.co/YzTzd9kGu9
— Dan Sheldon (@dansheldonsport) December 12, 2023
As such, it was agreed in negotiations between the club’s officials that Getafe would not pay a loan fee. They would also only make a “minor contribution” to Greenwood’s £75,000 a week salary. These were not the only stipulations agreed, however.
Rather uniquely, a clause was included in the loan deal which dictated Getafe would be entitled to 20% of any transfer fee, should Greenwood be sold elsewhere next summer. If the Spanish club were to sign him themselves, they would only have to pay “80% of any agreed price.”
Sheldon indicates Getafe insisted upon this agreement as part of their role in “rehabilitating” Greenwood, both in terms of his performances on the pitch, as well as his standing off it. Less than four months into the forward’s first season in La Liga, they appear to have fulfilled their part of the deal.
Four goals and three assists in thirteen matches for Getafe – a side who struggle to create and score – has demonstrated Greenwood’s potential in Spain’s top division.
United appear likely to generate a reasonable transfer fee for Greenwood in the summer, as a result of Getafe’s handling of the 22-year-old. As such, the Spanish side wants a “slice of the pie” should he depart them once his loan deal expires.
As explained in greater detail in a report by The Peoples Person, Getafe are eminently keen for Greenwood to stay with them permanently. Their president, Angel Torres, publicly stated the club are “considering buying” the forward, whom Corres “believe[s] a lot” in.
A host of teams across Europe are ready to enter the race for Greenwood, however. The prospective home for the 22-year-old next season appears uncertain.
What is far more certain is that the forward’s future will not lie in Manchester. The only questions which seem to remain for United in relation to Greenwood are; one, who? And two, how much?
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