Greenwood handed brutal reality check despite ex-Man Utd star scoring four goals
Former Manchester United and England forward Mason Greenwood continued his fine start to the new season for Marseille by bagging four goals in a single Ligue 1 game
Mason Greenwood became the first Marseille player to score four goals in a single game for 34 years at the weekend – only to be promptly told that he still has work to do to improve by his manager, Roberto De Zerbi.
Greenwood, 24, has been plying his trade in Ligue 1 for the past 15 months after leaving Manchester United permanently back in the summer of 2024. And in Marseille’s thumping 6-2 league win over Le Havre at the weekend, the Red Devils academy graduate etched his name into the history books with a remarkable four-goal haul.
He became the first Marseille player to score four in one game since Ballon d’Or winner Jean-Pierre Papin, who managed the exact same feat back in 1991. But De Zerbi was keen to stress that the former England international is capable of more.
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“It’s true that Mason can do more, De Zerbi said post-match. “He’s always scored a lot of goals and never missed a training session. But he still has room for improvement.”
The former Brighton boss continued: “If he wants to become a great player, he must run off the ball. I saw [Kylian] Mbappe, I saw [Ousmane] Dembele pressing without the ball, and Greenwood has to do it too.”
Greenwood has now scored 27 goals for Marseille since cutting ties with Manchester United permanently. His move to France came off the back of a season-long stint in Spain with Getafe, where Greenwood scored 10 goals and registered six assists across 36 appearances.
Even though De Zerbi wants to see more from Greenwood, the versatile forward is in the midst of a purple patch for Marseille, scoring seven goals in his last 10 appearances, as well as contributing a further four assists.
Marseille are currently top of Ligue 1 after winning six of their opening eight games and are the league’s top scorers overall after plundering 21 goals. No player has amassed more goal contributions than Greenwood’s nine (six goals, three assists) in the league to date.
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