There is strong ‘we didn’t want him anyway’ vibes about this one.
As talks continue over a deal that would see one of the many senior players put up for sale by Manchester United leave Old Trafford for good, one of his suitors do not appear to be taking the prospect of missing out particularly well.
According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, it is now Marseille who are leading the race to sign Mason Greenwood.
The former Getafe loanee was at Carrington on Monday morning to continue discussions over his seemingly imminent departure from the Red Devils. Talks with French giants Marseille are now at an advanced stage after tabling a ‘formal bid’, per Fabrizio Romano.
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Manchester United likely to sell Mason Greenwood
Lightning is striking twice for Lazio, then.
President Claudio Lotito – a man ‘obsessed’ with the idea of bringing Greenwood to Rome, per Corriere dello Sport – was left disappointed and deflated when a deal for the one-time England international fell through last year.
After United rejected their opening bid of £20 million according to Gianluca di Marzio, Lazio look set to miss out again.
And you can almost hear the bitterness in the Biancocelesti chief’s voice when he says that Lazio are now on the trail of a footballer ‘ten times better’ than a man who looks destined to end the summer as a Marseille player instead.
“The deal to sign Mason Greenwood was close last year but then it collapsed at the final stages,” Lotito says, via Romano. “Now I’ve one more name on the list.
“I can’t share the name but he’s ten times better than Greenwood.”
Now, if this is not the tell-tale sign of a man spurned, then we don’t know what is.
Marseille overtake Lazio in race
Lotito, meanwhile, is not the only one who wanted to see Greenwood don that iconic sky blue kit.
Lazio legend Bruno Giordano felt that Getafe’s reigning Player of the Year would have been an addition capable of taking the capital city club to a new level, Lazio having sacked Maurizio Sarri after a pretty underwhelming campaign.
“Very important player,” Bruno Giordano tells Radio Sei of Greenwood. “It would be an important coup, one that the fans always hope for. A footballer who can play in multiple roles, who creates havoc, and would make the difference in our championship.”
“The fact that the club values this type of player means that there has been an awareness of the lack of quality players in the squad. The former Getafe player is a top level footballer,” adds Giordano, who played over 200 Serie A games for Lazio before joining Napoli in 1985.
“You hardly end up playing for teams like Manchester United by chance.”
United will also hope to get Jadon Sancho off the books, while Donny van de Beek’s miserable spell as a Man United player could be ended by Girona.