Man United loanee Mason Greenwood sends powerful message as he made his feelings on Marcus Rashford clear amid poor start to the season

Man United loanee Mason Greenwood sends powerful message as he made his feelings on Marcus Rashford clear amid poor start to the season

Mason Greenwood  was destined to enjoy a similar Manchester United career path as Marcus Rashford after breaking into the first team under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Not many would’ve predicted he would be playing for 11th-placed La Liga side Getafe just four years after his debut.

Greenwood looked set to become a star as early as joining United’s 2018 pre-season tour at 16, gaining valuable experience alongside Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Anthony Martial.

In the following campaign, he made his senior debut aged 17 years 156 days as a substitute in United’s historic 3-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16.

More frequent opportunities followed, and up to January 2022, Greenwood had already made 129 appearances, registering 35 goals and 12 assists.

Many of those outings were alongside Rashford. United looked to have a dynamic attacking duo for the next decade until his arrest acted as the beginning of the end of his Old Trafford career.

Greenwood was later charged with attempted rape, assault and coercive and controlling behaviour. But he vehemently denied all allegations, and the Crown Prosecution Service later dropped all charges.

There was no way back among many United supporters, though, which led to the club sending the 21-year-old to Getafe on transfer deadline day.

Greenwood’s Red Devils career will go down as one of the many ‘what could’ve been’ scenarios in football. His partnership with Rashford, in particular, had the potential to blossom into an unstoppable force.

And the former United No 11 went on record to express his admiration for his fellow academy graduate, admitting he was one of his role models in the early stages of his senior career.

“Yeah, definitely [Rashford’s a role model]. He’s been in the academy and come through the ranks, and I feel like I’m following in his footsteps,” Greenwood explained in 2020.

“He’s a few years older than me, but I can definitely take a lot of inspiration from what he has achieved so far.

“I’ve known him for a long time, so I’ve seen how well he has done and how he has progressed as a player, so there’s lots to learn from being around him.”

Rashford didn’t miss Greenwood last season, scoring a career-best 30 goals in Erik ten Hag’s first campaign as United manager.

The 25-year-old penned a new long-term contract in M16 this summer and retains the potential to become a club icon, registering 124 goals and 70 assists in 367 appearances so far.

But Rashford hasn’t got going this season, scoring just once in 10 games for club and country. And Greenwood is enduring similar struggles, failing to find the net in any of his opening four Getafe outings.

Whether the pair will cross paths again down the line remains to be seen. In the meantime, both are solely focused on rediscovering their respective taste for goals.