Mason Greenwood Needs Patience And Protection At Manchester United

At the end of last week Mason Greenwood was the victim of a false rumour that spread across social media.

He was linked to the arrest of a footballer even though Cheshire police had confirmed the individual was in their 20s. Greenwood is 19.

But these simple and undeniable facts didn’t stand in the way of the worst of the internet smearing the Manchester United striker.

This is what Greenwood has to deal with at the moment; he has enjoyed the praise, and now comes the unhinged and reckless criticism.

For most of the year Greenwood has been hailed as one of world football’s most promising young players after scoring 17 goals for United last season.

But this began to unravel in September when he was ejected from the England squad with Manchester City’s Phil Foden after the pair had broken the team’s bio-secure bubble by inviting a pair of girls back to their hotel in Iceland.  

It was a time honoured and understandable mistake. Most young players have done something they would later regret. This is perfectly normal.

For nearly three decades Sir Alex Ferguson has held up Ryan Giggs as a shining example of how young players should conduct themselves.

Ferguson, who placed a protective cocoon around the Welshman at the start of his career, would tell young recruits to study exactly how Giggs handled himself.

‘I can honestly say that whatever United have paid me in my time at Old Trafford was justified at a stroke by securing Ryan,’ Ferguson once proudly declared.

But even Giggs would regularly push the boundaries and disappoint his mentor during his early years at Old Trafford.  

On one occasion Ferguson was at a charity event when he learned that Giggs, then aged 19, and his team-mate Lee Sharpe had taken a trip to Blackpool two days before a game in violation of club rules.

Giggs describes what happened next as ‘the scariest moment of my life,” as Ferguson appeared at Sharpe’s house where they were preparing for another night out.

‘Fergie has banged on the door… He looked over his shoulder and saw me in the kitchen talking to some girl, so just pushed my mate out of the way and came straight for me. If I had had a chance, I would have leapt out of the kitchen window.’

‘Fergie chucked everybody out of the house, clipping them around the ear as they left. He put me and Sharpey in a room and absolutely piled in to us. I have never had a worse rollicking before or since, smoke was coming out of his ears.”

Such early indiscretions didn’t stop Giggs enjoying a 23-year career in which he became both United’s all-time leading appearance maker and English football’s most decorated player with a haul of 13 Premier League titles.

There are high hopes at Old Trafford that Greenwood can reach the same heights as Giggs, but the club’s coaching staff also recognise he will need the same strict protection and guidance.

The United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left Greenwood out of his squad for United’s 3-1 win away at Everton claiming he had an illness.

However, there have since been reports he was in in fact omitted for his underwhelming performance in training the day before the game amid growing concerns that the player is not getting enough rest.

Greenwood did not report for international duty with either the senior or Under-21 sides for the current round of fixtures, with the England Under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd manager saying he had “a lot of things going on in his life.”

This is a familiar story of a young player learning to deal with the pressures and expectations of his new life while also attempting to harness his rare talent.

United have been here many times before in the last 25 years by nurturing such legendary figures as Giggs, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Crisitiano Ronaldo.

If Solskjaer follows the lead of Sir Alex Ferguson and provides Greenwood with the same patience and protection shown to these United greats the player will have the best chance of also fulfilling his enormous potential at Old Trafford.