Getafe will help Mason Greenwood ‘recover best level’, says coach Jose Bordalas
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Getafe's Spanish coach Jose Bordalas shouting instructions to his players from the touchline during the Spanish La Liga football match between Getafe and Barcelona on Aug 13.
PHOTO: AFP
BARCELONA – Getafe coach Jose Bordalas said his La Liga club will help Manchester United striker Mason Greenwood find “his best level” after his arrival on loan.
The Madrid side acquired the 21-year-old on Friday until the end of the season, despite him having faced allegations of abuse involving a young woman.
Greenwood had been suspended since January 2022 by the Premier League side over the allegations but prosecutors dropped charges, including attempted rape and sexual assault, in February.
“It is too delicate a situation to trivialise this issue,” said Bordalas, after Getafe’s 2-1 defeat by Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Saturday. Greenwood was not part of the match-day squad.
“Everybody knows what happened, the appropriate measures were taken,” the coach continued.
“Obviously we can talk about only football. About other issues I think the people and the relevant systems did what they had to do, and everybody knows how it ended – without a condemnatory sentence.
“Therefore, (he’s) a free person, a footballer of the highest level, who comes to Getafe with enormous hope. We are going to help him to recover his best level.”
English prosecutors dropped the charges against Greenwood after key witnesses withdrew and new evidence came to light.
The forward, whose contract runs until June 2025, said in August: “I did not do the things I was accused of, and in February I was cleared of all charges.
“However, I fully accept I made mistakes in my relationship.”
Greenwood’s arrival comes during a sexism storm in Spanish football, surrounding the suspended president of the Spanish football federation, Luis Rubiales.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday the country’s women footballers “gave the world a lesson” by going on strike over Rubiales’ World Cup kiss.
“Our players have won twice: first on the pitch, and now in giving a lesson to the world, a lesson of equality between men and women,” he said.
Spanish attacker Jennifer Hermoso joined a mass strike of women players in August, saying she did not consent to being kissed by Rubiales after Spain’s victory in the Women’s World Cup final.
Mr Sanchez, speaking in Malaga, applauded the players’ stance.
In a statement released by women players’ union Futpro on Aug 26, Hermoso and 80 other players said they would not accept an international call-up “if the current leadership continues” at the Spanish football federation.
Rubiales has defied expectations and refused to resign, provoking widespread indignation.
Mr Sanchez said Spain was a feminist country, with women who had decided “to no longer submit. Never again. It’s over,” in reference to the slogan chanted in demonstrations in support of Hermoso.
On Friday, Spain’s sports court agreed to investigate Rubiales for the forced kiss, as the scandal-hit football chief insisted he would defend himself to “prove the truth”.
The 46-year-old has been suspended by world governing body Fifa for 90 days while it decides on disciplinary measures. AFP
