I think this one was more Maguire refusing to go, and frankly EtH left the door too open for him. It sucks because that represented our most likely chance to get any kind of significant fee for Maguire and get rid of his ridiculous wages.

From an FFP standpoint, the fee would barely cover the remaining balance of his transfer fee. I'm not that upset because his money was not going to really help us make transfers from an FFP standpoint. It would lower wages, but if you have to pay off the difference between his current wage and his west ham wage, plus pay someone else, plus pay their transfer fee…

Let me put it this way: if you want Amrabat, selling Maguire hurts more from an FFP standpoint. (I want him gone, but that's because he really frustrates me not because I think he helps us pay for someone else).

Now, McTominay, on the other hand, would be huge from FFP. As I understand FFP. If you want to know why Chelsea are able to spend so much… a lot of it for this window is due to the Mason Mount money, to be honest, since he was a Chelsea academy player. You have to make the money up in the future, but selling Mason Mount at 55M in this window would actually pay for 280M worth of transfers this window, FFP wise if they get 55M this window. The problem would be you would owe 55M to FFP that you'd have to make up each of the subsequent 4 years (5 * 55M = 280M). So it's extremely risky, but if you want to know how Chelsea is doing it, that's how. I think that's also why they are buying so many youth players from South America, they are gambling on them becoming valuable and being able to sell for profit in the coming years.

Chelsea is a fascinating team. They will either turn out to be geniuses or… they could have to sell everyone to pay for FFP.

But anyway, back to Maguire, he doesn't really help us buy anyone, I just want him gone because he sucks. Lol. But if he's just sitting on the bench, sucks for him as far as getting playing time, sucks for Southgate as far as being able to justify picking him, sucks for United in that we spent a lot of money on something that's about as useful as a statue, but he doesn't affect money for signings much.

Reports out that Arnold made the decision to reintegrate Greenwood earlier this month but then delayed the announcement. Now the club has been forced to come out and say that they are near the end of their decision making process and ask for patience. But let's face it...they are definitely going to bring him back.

And if/when they do, for my part, I will tell them to **** right off. I can't sit here and say that I'll stop supporting the team forever but I will definitely take a large step back for an indefinite period of time. Every fan is entitled to proceed how they see fit. I'm not interested in arguing about what a fan should or shouldn't do. All I know is that I personally find it utterly abhorrent and repulsive...so much so that United do not deserve my time or fandom as a result.

Seriously, what are they supposed to do? He has been cleared of all charges, if they don't bring him back then they are opening themselves up to huge liability from Greenwood. No one else will take him at the wages they have him at, and if they park him on the sidelines they are risking a large lawsuit with him, diminishing his career earning power.

They are in a really bad spot, contracts in the US allow for morality clauses to get out but apparently not in the UK.

I am curious what you would like the club to do in this position, because as I see it their options are limited.

I would like the club to take the option that does not allow him to play football for Manchester United.

Or are you suggesting that all of their available options consist of him being forced to play football for Manchester United? Because while I don't have a deep understanding of Mason Greenwood's contract or British law, everything that has happened to this point and indeed just fundamental, basic logic suggests that there is at least one option that exists in which Mason Greenwood does not play football for Manchester United ever again.

That's the option that the club should take. No matter the form. No matter the cost.

I'll be honest: I am stunned that he is (apparently) coming back. I figured he would go out on loan because he hasn't played or trained for 18 months, so from a football standpoint, he's probably bad. So I figured they would for sure send him out on loan. Then we had the leak that he would go to Atalanta on loan that didn't materialize. And he is just training in public parks in Manchester which is insane. They clearly realize they can't have him at Carrington in a United shirt. And they clearly intend to bring him back because you don't have to tell the women in person that he's not coming back.

It's going to be bad. They know it's going to be bad. But it seems like they are determined to do it anyway. It's completely insane, but I think they decided he was a 100M player, and Glazernomics dictates you don't let that much money walk out the door (whether he's still worth it or not).

This is a big mistake. And let's not pretend their hands are tied; if it had been the exact same situation with Eric Bailly or Brandon Williams you all know they would 100% be gone already.

Showstopper said:

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This is a big mistake. And let's not pretend their hands are tied; if it had been the exact same situation with Eric Bailly or Brandon Williams you all know they would 100% be gone already.

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Exactly this. The notion that they have no other choice but to bring him back to the club is just so absurd. At the very least, I think we can all agree that, no matter what legal or contract implications may or may not exist, Manchester United could choose to pay out his contract in full. If he's on 75k a week, that comes out to about 8-12M GBP depending on whether you give him back pay or not in full for the time he has already missed.

Relatively speaking, that's nothing. That's selling Fred to Fenerbahce. I would bet there are other, less financially significant alternatives to bringing him back but even if there aren't, that's clearly a better alternative than bringing him back. The fact that they would rather bring him back than just eat (at most) 12 million GBP is abhorrent in my opinion.

Dre_00 said:

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Showstopper said:

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This is a big mistake. And let's not pretend their hands are tied; if it had been the exact same situation with Eric Bailly or Brandon Williams you all know they would 100% be gone already.

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Exactly this. The notion that they have no other choice but to bring him back to the club is just so absurd. At the very least, I think we can all agree that, no matter what legal or contract implications may or may not exist, Manchester United could choose to pay out his contract in full. If he's on 75k a week, that comes out to about 8-12M GBP depending on whether you give him back pay or not in full for the time he has already missed.

Relatively speaking, that's nothing. That's selling Fred to Fenerbahce. I would bet there are other, less financially significant alternatives to bringing him back but even if there aren't, that's clearly a better alternative than bringing him back. The fact that they would rather bring him back than just eat (at most) 12 million GBP is abhorrent in my opinion.

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Are you saying if there was a less talented player he would be gone already? I 100% believe that is not the case. No matter the player in a matter like this you have to proceed cautiously, mainly because of UK's not allowing morality clauses in the contracts (not sure if that is an FA thing or a general UK thing). I don't think that United believes they will ever get anything out of Greenwood or that he has any value for them. They are proceeding in a manner that limits their exposure from Greenwood.

To this point I think the club has handled this exactly right. I also don't think you will ever see him in a United jersey again, but they have proceeded in a manner that they have needed to up to this point because of legal constraints.

I guess what I am trying to say is that any hand wringing over this is too early. If he is back on the pitch in a United jersey then I will say you were right, but I don't think it will get there. This is just another step in making sure United isn't the cause of destroying Greenwood's future earning potential.

The Athletic reported that Richard Arnold told senior members that he would be reintegrated with the first team. I guess we will see if he makes an appearance in a game or not, but at minimum he will be training in a United Jersey since he's supposed to be back with the first team, according to the Athletic. And it's not like we are talking about something in the Sun or the Mirror or something; the Athletic tends to be pretty well sourced. The may change their mind since the reaction has been so negative, I don't know, but I do think if the Athletic report it the source would be someone who would know, and they probably even got a confirmatory source.

Also, the contract doesn't guarantee anything other than they will pay you. You can't really draw parallels because he was so much more powerful than any manager since, but SAF had Roy Keane's contract paid up and terminated. So we know it is possible. And he didn't break any laws other than pissing off SAF for allegedly being overly critical of teammates in a MUTV segment they never aired. Ronaldo also didn't break any laws, he just talked to Piers Morgan (maybe it should be against the law). It was an agreed termination, but if the club said, "You will never play here again, but here's the remainder of your contract" there's not much he could do. If that were the decision, though, they wouldn't be doing all of this.

Yeah there is a solution here. Just pay him the money owed. He's owed the $$. He's not owed anything related to playing soccer.

The club has decided not to do that. Who knows why not.

I'm more reacting to the notion that there is no option to let him leave rather than the idea that a lesser player would already be gone by now. Others here have succinctly described why there is a clear option to remove Greenwood now (or even months ago) so I won't rehash. I suppose it is possible that The Athletic was always wrong or that the club will change its mind. It is not 100% certain what the club will decide. But the writer of the article made a very compelling case and it's more likely a very accurate story than not.

Adam Crafton at The Athletic has some inside sources who are divulging absolutely everything as it relates to Mason Greenwood. He has a 2nd article out with even more information. My guess is it won't be the last.

Covers a lot of topics and emotions but the parts about the disorganization and priorities of the club paired with the sadness and anger to see it all happen we're especially relevant to me.

https://thebusbybabe.sbnation.com/2023/8/17/23835161/manchester-united-and-the-mason-greenwood-mess-of-their-own-making

MEN's Samuel Luckhurst is reporting that United may change their mind on the Greenwood decision.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-utd-mason-greenwood-latest-27552989

Erik names an unchanged starting XI for our first away day of the season! 🔴#MUFC || #TOTMUN

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 19, 2023

Ain't broke don't fix it… I guess…

I like that he is giving Mount another chance.

Onana playing sweeper keeper almost at the halfway line and drops a dime on Garnacho across the field. Wow.

That's handling. It's been handling in the WWC and the WC.

I have no idea what handling is anymore.

Absurd

Mathguy64 said:

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That's handling. It's been handling in the WWC and the WC.

I have no idea what handling is anymore.

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Nobody does apparently

Thunder18 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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That's handling. It's been handling in the WWC and the WC.

I have no idea what handling is anymore.

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Nobody does apparently

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Mean the arm is up not close to the body and it's blocking a shot. It's a yellow and PK everywhere. It has been for a while. It's been a consistent call in the WCs.

Yea, the commentator trying to justify it was pretty pathetic

Oof

Damn, really struggling to score today

Damn. Wan-bissaka just healed that dude in the face

Eric Wynalda does not like the way he plays at all.

Sub Antony off already...he keeps turning the ball over and is one stupid challenge from being sent off

Mount is invisible again today

Wasting Rashford by playing him up front. How do you play him on the wing last year when he is banging goals and now he is up front? You play Sancho up front in pre season and now he is on the wing.

Well on the bright side on Monday we will magically find that 30M for Amrabat in all probability.

Martinez OG. Brutal

Same old **** with the Glazer owned organization.