Mason Greenwood invovled in brawl against AS Monaco

Mason Greenwood has risen in form since his move to Marseille, once again making him a routine name to watch, however this time, it’s not for his goalscoring abilities.

Following his loan spell at Getafe, where he grabbed ten goals and six assists in 36 games, Marseille moved quickly to bring him to Ligue 1.

The French side paid around £26 million for the forward last summer, and that decision has looked a smart one for most of this campaign.

Greenwood has been one of Marseille’s key attacking players, with his numbers giving the club a real lift in the race for Champions League qualification.

Last season the 24-year-old hit 21 league goals, grabbing the Ligue 1 golden boot, and this year has already scored 25 in all competitions.

But Greenwood’s latest outing for Marseille was for a less admirable quality on the pitch.

Manchester Evening News has reported that the former Manchester United attacker was involved in an angry on-pitch bust-up during Marseille’s clash with Lille on Sunday.

According to the report, the incident came just 13 minutes into the match when Mason Greenwood picked up the ball in his own half before being fouled by Calvin Verdonk, who was shown a yellow card.

Greenwood reacted straight away and moved to confront the defender, only to then be body checked to the floor by Hakon Haraldsson as more players piled in.

Ultimately, the issue saw both Greenwood and Haraldsson get booked for their roles in the brawl.

The report adds that Greenwood’s afternoon then became even more chaotic, with the forward only lasting a few more minutes before being substituted because of injury.

The 24-year-old made way for Ethan Nwaneri, who went on to open the scoring for Marseille just before half-time.

It was not enough to rescue the points, though.

Lille turned the game around in the second half, with Thomas Meunier and Olivier Giroud scoring to hand Marseille a damaging defeat in the race for the top three.

That matters, because Marseille’s season has largely been driven by Greenwood’s output in the final third.

With 25 goals and eight assists across all competitions, he has been a major reason they remain right in the Champions League hunt.

It also explains why fresh transfer talk refuses to go away, with reports claiming Juventus are interested and a figure of around £60 million being discussed.

If Marseille were to sell at that level, United could stand to receive a significant chunk through the 50% sell-on agreement.

For now, though, the bigger issue for Marseille may be Greenwood’s fitness after a bruising afternoon that brought goals, cards and controversy all in one go.