Mason Greenwood has grown physically and mentally into a cold-blooded executioner who has already netted more United goals than Falcao, Di Maria and Sanchez COMBINED… this 18-year-old is made for the big stage
* Mason Greenwood scored three goals last week following his weekend double
* The 18-year-old has emerged into one of Man United's biggest attacking threats
* Greenwood strengthened up during lockdown and put on three kg of muscle
* He drives a £50,000 Mercedes but is firmly focussed on his professional career
* Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described him as the 'best finisher he's ever worked with'
Strange as it may seem for a young man who has fitted so seamlessly into the Manchester United first-team, there was a period last season when Mason Greenwood wasn’t ready for senior football.
Unlike his hero Wayne Rooney, Greenwood wasn’t physically or mentally prepared for the challenge of playing Premier League football in front of packed stadiums at such an early age.
If anything, he was a young 17. A supremely talented boy but one who needed a little more time to make the step up. Very different to the cold-eyed executioner who is now scoring goals for fun.
Mason Greenwood was not ready for senior football at Manchester United last season. But Greenwood is flourishing and scored three goals last week after his double on Saturday. Alexis Sanchez (L) has only scored five goals for United while Angel Di Maria scored just four
Greenwood’s double against Bournemouth on Saturday took his tally to three for the week – plus an excellent assist for Bruno Fernandes at Brighton – and 15 so far for the season in all competitions.
Two more, it’s been noted, than Alexis Sanchez, Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao managed in their combined careers at Old Trafford.
Mentally, his temperament seems tailor-made for the big stage that those who have followed his progress always expected him to grace.
Physically, he is a different animal to the wiry youngster who made his debut in the most testing of circumstances, the dying minutes of United’s dramatic Champions League comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital last year.
A weights programme has seen Greenwood put on three kilogrammes of muscle during lockdown.
Hardly a surprise when you see the dumbbells in his gym at home on a video posted by the club in April showing the 18-year-old running on a treadmill and doing push ups.
Another clip after the squad returned to training at Carrington in May captured a more muscular Greenwood shrugging off a challenge from captain Harry Maguire, arguably the club’s most imposing player.
‘Mason’s looking more and more like a man,’ said manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. ‘He’s still 18 and this lockdown period has done him all the good in the world because, at his age, they do develop and fill out.’
Greenwood made his debut in the dying moments of United's famous win against PSG last year
Greenwood is the boy from Wibsey in West Yorkshire who was discovered by accident when United’s talent scouts turned up to watch someone else playing for his youth team, Idle Juniors, in Bradford.
He progressed quickly through the club’s regional training centres in Halifax and Huddersfield to the main academy hub at The Cliff in Salford where he soon came to the attention of Solskjaer, then United’s reserve-team boss who even asked to have a photo taken with the youngster.
‘I actually do remember when I met him for the first time because my son (Noah) was training at The Cliff as an eight-year-old and Mason was seven,’ recalls Solskjaer.
‘I asked him for the picture because I knew he was going to be a player.’
Greenwood could easily have become an athlete like his older sister Ashton, having once broken the Great Britain record at Under-13 level for the 100 metres.
But he continued to pursue a career in football guided by his father Andrew, an engineer, and mother Melanie while attending Ashton-on-Mersey School.
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MASON GREENWOOD CAREER STATISTICS
Appearances: 45
Goals: 15
Assists: 5
Debut: March 6 2019, vs PSG
First competitive goal: September 19 2019, vs Astana
Statistics according to Transfermarkt
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Greenwood was a boyhood Manchester United fan (pictured at Old Trafford as a child)
He was voted United’s Young Player of the Year last season after scoring 30 goals in 29 games for the Under-18s, Under-19s and Under-23s before becoming the club’s 231st academy player to graduate to the first team – and youngest ever to play for United in the Champions League – when he came on in Paris in March.
A Premier League debut followed before the end of the 2018-19 campaign, as did a first senior goal against Leeds United on tour in Perth a year ago, but it wasn’t until this season that a more mature Greenwood really made his mark.
His progress was rewarded with a new £15,000-a-week contract last October. At this rate, United might find themselves having to re-negotiate sooner rather than later.
There are the usual trappings of fame, of course. Greenwood drives a £50,000 Mercedes GLC Coupe AMG and recently customised it with a silver wrap and red stripe. He was also dating a model, Harriet Robson, for more than a year although they are said to have split during lockdown.
However, club insiders describe him as a down-to-earth teenager who is firmly focussed on his career. ‘He’s a humble boy, he wants to learn, he listens and he works hard,’ said Solskjaer following Greenwood’s two-goal exploits at the weekend.
The United boss has described him as the best finisher he has ever worked with and believes he is ready for the England senior side.
Greenwood in his £50,000 Mercedes GLC Coupe AMG, which he recently had customised. Yet Greenwood has been described as a 'humble boy who listens' by his manager Solskjaer
With United potentially still having 11 games left to play, Greenwood could easily join Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in scoring 20 goals for the season – 55 years after United last had three players hit that mark.
They are emerging as the most lethal attack in the Premier League with Greenwood now ahead of Dan James, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard to play on the right.
It has inevitably raised questions over United’s pursuit of Jadon Sancho with Borussia Dortmund demanding in excess of £90million for the England winger. Should they continue to chase Sancho – or even Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish – when his signing could hold back Greenwood’s progress in the first-team?
United have missed out on Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala, Erling Haaland and Josh King in the last 12 months and yet hit on an exciting attack that fits the club’s attacking DNA and includes two homegrown stars in Greenwood and Rashford.
Greenwood is now ahead of Dan James, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard in the pecking order. Would the arrival of Jadon Sancho or Jack Grealish slow down Greenwood's progress?
The counter argument is that they will need strength in depth to get to the next level. Rashford has only just recovered from a double back fracture, history tell us that Martial’s form can be erratic, and Greenwood will require spells out of the first-team.
Odion Ighalo, 31, is only on loan until the end of January and United’s other options are limited.
Either way, it speaks volumes for Greenwood that the rising young star has reached this point in his career so quickly.
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