Manchester United’s sale of Mason Greenwood to Marseille in a £30m deal has been branded “disturbing” and indicative of a “problem with sexual violence in football” by leading domestic abuse campaigners.
The 22-year-old completed a move to the Ligue 1 club earlier this week having spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Getafe.
Greenwood had not played for United since his arrest in January 2022 for attempted rape and assault occasioning bodily harm, while he later faced further charges of controlling and coercive behaviour. The Crown Prosecution Service dropped its case against him in February 2023 after a key witness withdrew evidence. The player has denied all wrongdoing.
David Challen, a domestic abuse campaigner and survivor, is leading calls for the club to donate the proceeds from Greenwood’s sale to charity. He is the son of Sally Challen, whose conviction for the murder of her husband was quashed on appeal in 2019 and reduced to manslaughter after findings that she had been subjected to years of domestic abuse.
“Man Utd’s a massive global sports club that rakes in hundreds of millions a year and that they didn’t release a player – which they could have done quite easily – and chose to retain him for their own financial needs, really prioritises the financial needs of the company above women,” Challen tells i.
“It seems to be a phase of the vision of what’s happening at Man Utd anyway. It’s a disturbing insight into the culture at Man Utd and how they are treating women, pushing them quite literally to the side and the periphery of the club. He [Sir Jim Ratcliffe] cares about success on the pitch for the men’s team but the women won a major trophy [the FA Cup] and he wasn’t even there.”
Since acquiring a 25 per cent stake in the club, minority shareholders Ineos have been widely criticised for their handling of United’s women’s team. In a recent interview, Ratcliffe reiterated that his focus was on the “first team” – referring to the men’s team – and the women’s team have recently been moved into portable cabins at their Carrington training ground to allow the men’s squad to use their building.
Although the legal case has been abandoned, audio is still widely available which appears to show a man – alleged to be Greenwood – abusing a woman and trying to coerce her into sexual activity. The woman also posted photos on social media showing bruises and cuts to her face and body, suggesting that Greenwood was responsible.
i has spoken to a number of women’s rights groups who said that as United had chosen not to terminate Greenwood’s contract, his transfer fee – £27.2m up front and £3.2m in add-ons – should be donated to charity as a message of support for victims.
As one source put it: “Clearly footballers are icons to young people and their behaviour towards women matters a great deal.”
After an internal investigation, United initially considered reintegrating the forward into the first team and held a number of meetings to sound out how that would be received from within and outside the club.
That included discussions with some members of the women’s team, a move which was met with backlash as it appeared to shunt the responsibility of the decision onto female players and exposed them to a torrent of online abuse.
𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙
— Olympique de Marseillepic.twitter.com/Ad9nZuvs7d
(@OM_English) July 19, 2024
“It just doesn’t seem like the club care, even on a basic level, about women and girls,” Challen says.
“They didn’t even engage with women’s charities until the 11th hour, the fact they can’t donate to one of those charities or maybe a charity in the local area, it’s woeful especially for a club of Man Utd’s size.
“Services nationally are crippled and need funding, even in the local area. It’s staggering but unfortunately it’s not surprising, because they had the chance to release him but they didn’t. This was a real moment where the best thing to do is recognise there is a problem with sexual violence in football, it’s going to keep going and there are going to be more instances where abuse happens at clubs.
Insisting the UK Government should introduce an independent body to investigate similar cases in sport, he added: “They’re not responsible bodies to investigate that, which is why I’ve always advocated for an independent body to regulate and review that and take it off the hands of internal investigations as opposed to marking their own work.
“More often that not, they hire external independent barristers who then deliver their thoughts back to them, [and they] make their judgment and deliver that judgment to the public who have no oversight or transparency as to the process that has occurred.”
As i reported in May, United toyed with extending Greenwood’s contract to ensure they did not lose him on a free transfer when his existing deal expired in 2025.
There has been an exodus of high-profile female players at United, with England goalkeeper Mary Earps, Spain international Lucia Garcia and former captain Katie Zelem all departing this summer, following Alessia Russo who joined Arsenal a year ago. Many within United Women’s set-up have privately expressed their dismay at the direction being taken under Ineos.
A fan group also described United’s management of Greenwood as “spineless”. It is not the only recent case involving domestic abuse allegations at the club; in September 2023, Antony was permitted to carry on playing following accusations of violence from three different women, which he refuted.
i understands that all Manchester United players receive training on relationships and consent, in line with Premier League regulations.
The Manchester United fan group “Female Fans Against Greenwood’s Return” have also responded to Greenwood’s transfer, saying in a statement: “We’re not naïve enough to think moving this player on was done purely for moral reasons. The need for revenue and the desire for positive PR from a leadership looking to get public figures on board for stadium redevelopment has probably played a major part.”
i has approached Manchester United for comment.
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