Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Manchester United will make a fresh decision on the future of forward Mason Greenwood and will “justify it one way or the other”.
Greenwood, who is on loan at Spanish side Getafe, was suspended by United on January 30, 2022 over allegations relating to a young woman after images and videos were posted online.
The now 22-year-old faced charges including attempted rape and assault but the Crown Prosecution Service announced in February last year that the case had been discontinued.
Reports last year that United were planning to retain him following an internal investigation were met by public outcry and Ratcliffe acknowledges that a decision will have to be made when Greenwood returns about what happens next – but insists nothing has been finalised yet.
“It’s quite clear we have to make a decision. There is no decision that’s been made,” Ratcliffe said at a media briefing to mark the completion of his purchase of a minority stake in United which delegates control of football operations to his company Ineos.
Asked asked if the Greenwood situation would be a “fresh decision”, Ratcliffe said: “Yeah we will. Absolutely. We will make a decision, and we will justify it one way or the other.”
Ratcliffe added: “He’s on loan obviously, but he’s not the only one – we’ve got one or two footballers that we have to deal with and we have to make a decision on, so we will do that.
“The process will be – understand the facts, not the hype, and then try and come to a fair decision on the basis of values, which is basically: is he a good guy or not?
“Could he play sincerely for Manchester United, (play) well and we’d be comfortable with it and the fans would be comfortable with it.”
Greenwood is under contract at United until the summer of 2025.
Ipswich Town 1-1 Manchester United: Hutchinson denies Amorim winning start
Ruben Amorim was denied victory in his first game in charge of Manchester United as they played out a 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town on Sunday.
The visitors made a dream start to Amorim's tenure when Marcus Rashford opened the scoring in only the second minute at Portman Road.
But Omari Hutchinson's deflected equaliser sent Ipswich deservedly into the break on level pegging as the Tractor Boys responded well to the early setback.
United were grateful to Andre Onana for a couple of big saves in a game in which they struggled to test Arijanet Muric in the Ipswich goal after their flying start as the spoils were shared.
Rashford, chosen as a central striker, nipped to the near post to meet Amad Diallo's centre in a sublime start for the Red Devils.
Onana brilliantly kept out Liam Delap from eight yards but could do nothing to prevent Hutchinson's bending 20-yard effort finding the top-left corner via a deflection off the head of Noussair Mazraoui.
Muric smartly prevented Alejandro Garnacho restoring United's lead immediately after the restart, while at the other end Onana again thwarted Delap who thought he had scored with an ingenious flick.
Bruno Fernandes bent a free-kick wide and Conor Chaplin poked straight at Onana as both sides had to settle for a point.
Amorim matches Moyes as it's joy of six for Rashford
It could hardly have been a better start for Amorim, who joins David Moyes as the only manager to see his side score within the opening two minutes of his first Premier League game (Moyes having done so with Everton in March 2002).
However, it marked only the third time United have scored inside two minutes of a Premier League match and not won, with a 2-2 draw with Liverpool in October 1995 and a 6-1 hammering by Tottenham in October 2020 the other occasions.
Rashford was the man to get Amorim off to a flier and he has now scored under six different United managers having registered for Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag, more than any other player for the club.
Ipswich, meanwhile, now have four goals scored from outside the penalty area in the Premier League this term - a tally only bettered by Manchester City (7) and Nottingham Forest (5).
Slot relishing Liverpool's Real Madrid, Man City double-header
Arne Slot is relishing Liverpool's upcoming double-header against Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Liverpool came from behind thanks to Mohamed Salah's second-half double to beat Southampton 3-2 on Sunday.
That victory at St Mary's moved the Reds eight points clear of Man City, who were thrashed 4-0 at home by Tottenham on Saturday for a fifth straight defeat in all competitions.
Pep Guardiola's team visit Anfield on December 1, though first the Reds host European champions Madrid in the Champions League.
And Slot cannot wait for Liverpool to go up against two heavyweights.
"It's what you need in a league like this, with so many quality teams. You have to keep winning because if you don’t, the other ones will," the Dutchman told BBC Sport.
"That's what we try to do every game, now it's Real Madrid and next Sunday it's Man City.
"You couldn't wish for more than playing these two games in the upcoming week, at home."
No manager in Premier League history has reached 10 wins in fewer matches from the start of their career in the competition than Slot (12 games, level with Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti).
Liverpool were indebted to Salah, however, with the forward dragging them level and then converting the winner from the penalty spot after Mateus Fernandes had put Southampton into a surprise lead early in the second half, following goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Adam Armstrong before the break.
Salah became the first player to score in five successive Premier League appearances for Liverpool since the Egyptian himself in October 2021 (seven in a row). His second goal was his 100th away from Anfield for Liverpool in all competitions.
"It was very good that Mo scored in that moment," said Slot of Salah's first goal, which came in the 65th minute when he nudged Ryan Gravenberch's pass beyond the stranded Alex McCarthy.
"It was not the best period of the game so he helped us with that and then afterwards we dominated so much, they got tired.
"That is what special players do. They can score goals out of nowhere. It's not completely out of nowhere because the assist of Gravenberch is a great ball as well, but Mo is known for the timing of his runs, he feels the right moment to run behind the last line, and normally you know he’s not offside because he always finds the right moment, and then he scores the goal, which was very helpful for us."
While Slot acknowledged Liverpool were tested by the Premier League's bottom club, he felt his team were always in control.
He added: "It wasn't a surprise for us, we saw how they played against Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle in away games, never mind how they would play in a home game against a top team. But we dominated. Because we went down 2-1, it made it really difficult for us.
"We dominated the whole game, which is not that easy against Southampton because they want possession, they want to dominate the game as well, but they couldn't. Because the scoreline was as it was, it felt like a difficult match, but if you look at the underlying numbers we deserved to win."
Those metrics support Slot's point. Liverpool accumulated 2.9 expected goals from 27 shots, 11 of which were on target, while they also limited Southampton to 37.9% possession.
Cooper sacked by Leicester after winless run
Leicester City have dismissed manager Steve Cooper after a run of four Premier League games without a win.
Cooper, who previously managed Leicester's rivals Nottingham Forest, only took charge of the Foxes for 15 games in all competitions.
He was appointed in June, after Enzo Maresca left to join Chelsea following Leicester's promotion back to the Premier League.
After going six league games without a win at the start of the season, Cooper appeared to have steadied the ship with victories over Bournemouth and Southampton.
However, a winless streak of four top-flight matches, in which Leicester lost to Forest, Manchester United and Chelsea, while drawing with Ipswich Town, has seen Cooper lose his position.
In a statement released on Sunday, Leicester confirmed Cooper's assistants Alan Tate and Steve Rands had also left the club, with Ben Dawson set to take charge until a replacement is appointed.
Former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter was reportedly in talks to join Leicester prior to Cooper's appointment in the summer.
The Foxes are 16th in the Premier League on 10 points after 12 games.
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