Manchester United pays 100 million euros to repurchase Greenwood? Three major reasons prove that the rumors are untrue

There is a big news in the football world recently: Manchester United plans to spend 100 million euros to bring former youth training star Greenwood back to Old Trafford. The trigger for this rumor was that Greenwood scored four goals in the French Ligue 1 over the weekend, helping Marseille beat Le Havre 6-2, which incidentally sent the team to the top of the league. But the seemingly "reasonable" rumor actually contained three major flaws that were difficult to establish.

Let’s first look back at Greenwood’s trajectory: In July 2024, he moved from Manchester United to Marseille permanently for 31.6 million euros. Before that, he also played for Getafe in Spain on loan for one year. When Manchester United let him go, it was not a matter of ability - the player who was once regarded as "Manchester United's most talented new star in recent years" faced serious criminal charges, and the club finally determined that "leaving the team would be more beneficial to all parties."

After switching to Marseille, the 24-year-old Greenwood has completely exploded: so far, he has contributed 29 goals and 10 assists in 46 appearances, with an average of 1 goal or assist every 1.17 games. This season, his status has soared, with 11 goals + assists in 10 games, averaging 1 goal in 71.36 minutes, and his efficiency is top-notch.

Even Marseille coach and former Brighton coach De Zerbi was full of praise for him, bluntly saying that he has the potential to hit the "best in the world": "Greenwood's front-line ability is already top-notch, and there is no need to improve his scoring efficiency. But he can become stronger - like Mbappe and Dembélé, he must actively press without the ball. He occasionally does it now, but only by persisting in this kind of effort can he be among the top." De Zerbi also revealed that he has been helping Greenwood make up for his shortcomings, hoping that he can become "one of the legends" at Marseille's home stadium Velodrome.

But Manchester United wants to spend 100 million euros to repurchase him? From a practical perspective, this matter is almost untenable. Three reasons are enough to refute it:

First, the controversial label has not been removed. Even though the original criminal charges had been dropped, Manchester United's original decision to let him go was "the result of weighing all parties." Now, only 15 months have passed, and the club's attitude towards "controversial players" is unlikely to have fundamentally changed - after all, the views of fans and public opinion on Greenwood have not been completely reversed.

Secondly, the quoted price of 100 million euros is too outrageous. Manchester United originally sold Greenwood for only 31.6 million euros, but now it will cost nearly three times the price to buy it back. Even if there is a "50% resale share" in the contract, there is no need to pay the full 100 million euros. More importantly, Ineos Group has been focusing on "rational transfers" in the 18 months since it took over Manchester United. This operation of "buying back old players at high prices" completely goes against its concept of "high-quality transfer management".

Thirdly, Manchester United's focus is not on the forward line at all. At the moment, coach Amorim's primary goal is to strengthen the midfielder: the team is in urgent need of a "No. 6" and has made a clear plan - to sign a midfielder first in the winter window and add another in the summer window next year. Looking at the forward line, Manchester United just spent 71 million pounds to sign Mbemo this summer. The latter has been in hot form recently and scored the first goal in Sunday's away win over Liverpool. There is no need to spend a lot of money to fill the same position.

It is worth mentioning that Manchester United's midfield signing plan also has new trends: the Brighton player Baleba (worth 100 million pounds) that was originally focused on is no longer a priority target, and the team has turned to focus on two other candidates: Ramones, a 23-year-old star who has just made his debut, is optimistic by the outside world that he is "expected to reach the top of the world" with his outstanding performance at Anfield.

Taken together, Manchester United’s current energy is entirely on midfield reinforcements and new talent training. The rumors of buying back Greenwood for 100 million euros are more like “paper talks”-it neither conforms to the team’s plan nor goes against the logic of reality.