Mason Greenwood sees Man Utd reunion confirmed with star Old Trafford boss 'humiliated'
Mason Greenwood will be reunited with his fellow former Manchester United academy graduate team-mate Angel Gomes, who has secured a move to Ligue 1 giants Marseille
Mason Greenwood will play alongside former Manchester United team-mate Angel Gomes next season at Marseille. They will reunite in France five years after Gomes left the Red Devils, having once been left humiliated by former United manager Jose Mourinho.
Marseille confirmed this week that they have reached an agreement in principle to sign England international Gomes. The Ligue 1 runners-up, managed by Roberto De Zerbi, beat a host of clubs to his signature, with the 24-year-old reportedly signing a three-year deal at the Orange Velodrome.
RMC Sport previously reported that the United academy graduate was convinced by De Zerbi's style of play and the opportunity to compete in the Champions League. Gomes had announced he would be leaving Lille once his contract expired this summer.
The midfielder made the move to Lille at the end of his United contract in the summer of 2020, having been tipped for great things at Old Trafford after signing for the club back in 2006. The England U21s European Championship winner was handed his debut aged just 16 by Mourinho on the final day of the 2016/17 season, making him United's youngest ever Premier League player.
But despite the trust placed in him by the current Fenerbahce boss, a 17-year-old Gomes was once brought to the brink of tears as a result of Mourinho criticising his performance in a reserve team match in front of the first team.
He told the Athletic: "I played a game for the reserves and he watched — he didn’t think I played good enough. Two days later, the first team had a game, and he took me with the team. At the pre-match, in front of everybody, he let me know about it."
Expanding on the story in an interview with The Times, Gomes explained: "At the time I was thinking, 'Why has he done that in front of everyone? Could he not have pulled me to the side?'
"A few of the players came up to me and said, 'He just wants a reaction from you, don't let it faze you', but in that moment, I didn't want to hear anything.
'I rushed to my room and rang my dad and my brother. There's not much they could say to me really. I was almost crying. I was really young.
"It wasn't until I was older that I realised, with Mourinho, he's always looking at ways to get more out of you. I think him doing that in front of everyone showed he valued me as a player. I probably needed it."
He added: "It's all mental toughness. What I came to learn about Jose is he always wants you to do better. He is almost like prodding you, 'Come on, show me a bit more. Everyone's told me how good you are, but I want to see it.'"
Despite the psychological blow at the time, Gomes wishes he had been mature enough to embrace Mourinho's management style, saying: "It wasn't until I left and I see Jose winning trophies that I think, 'Ah, I understand you. And if only I had understood you more, I would have been able to appreciate my time more with you'. But no, in the midst of little b*********s, [he was] an amazing guy."
Gomes' departure came during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tenure, following Mourinho's sacking two years prior in 2018. His game time was extremely limited under Solskjaer while the then-promising Greenwood was enjoying his first-team breakthrough in the 2019/20 season.
After playing a total of 320 minutes for United, Gomes left as a free agent, capping off the "most difficult period" of his career. Despite spending the first year of his five-year Lille stint at Portuguese club Boavista, the move to Ligue 1 served to kickstart his career. He made 134 appearances in all competitions for Lille, including 20 this season as they finished fifth in the league.
He also impressed in a Three Lions shirt last year after receiving his first four caps under interim boss Lee Carsley. However, Gomes has not yet featured under new manager Thomas Tuchel.
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