Mason Greenwood ‘wants Jude Bellingham investigation’ dropped as he ‘doesn’t want bad publicity’

Greenwood-and-Bellingham

According to reports, Manchester United loanee Mason Greenwood has ‘asked’ for the investigation into Jude Bellingham to be ‘dropped’.

Greenwood and Bellingham clashed for the first time in La Liga at the start of January.

This follows Bellingham’s £88m move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid and Greenwood’s loan switch from Man Utd to Getafe.

Greenwood’s loan move to La Liga came about after charges against him relating to attempted rape and assault were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service at the start of 2023.

The CPS made this decision after the withdrawal of key witnesses reduced the chance of conviction.

Man Utd were initially planning for Greenwood’s return ahead of this season but they were forced into a U-turn following severe backlash from staff, pundits and the media.

Greenwood has seven goals and five assists in his 25 appearances for Getafe across all competitions but he failed to make a substantial impact against Real Madrid as Bellingham’s side won 2-0.

During this game, Bellingham tackled Greenwood and TV cameras caught him saying something to the forward. The audio was not picked up but the Real Madrid standout was accused of calling his opponent a “r*pist”.

It recently emerged that this case had been referred to Spain’s football federation and Bellingham could receive a ban.

But a fresh report from The Sun claims ‘Greenwood wants an investigation into whether Jude Bellingham called him a “r*pist” dropped’.

A source for The Sun added: “Mason has told them he doesn’t want Jude to be punished and has asked them to drop it.

“He doesn’t want bad publicity and wants to get on with playing football.

“He was very upset at the time as he didn’t expect it from someone like Jude. But he knows he’s always likely to be a target for that kind of stuff so he’s accepted he’ll need a thick skin.”

“Bad publicity” will inevitably follow Greenwood wherever he goes but this is not stopping elite clubs from showing interest in him.

Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have been linked with him in recent weeks and Fabrizio Romano expects Man Utd to “cash in” in the summer.

“Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said publicly that Manchester United will take their time to decide on the future of Mason Greenwood as he impresses on loan at Getafe, but I can say that the feeling internally at the club is that they will cash in on the player,” Romano told Caught Offside.

“If they receive transfer proposals, they will be ready to consider them and to negotiate, but of course it will also be more clear once they bring in new appointments to the board such as Dan Ashworth.

“This will be key to decide the summer strategy, because things could still change, and there will be talks in April/May to clarify things, but for now the feeling is that Greenwood could be sold permanently.”