Football has a short memory, but Manchester United's accounting department has a very long one.
Right now, if you head over to the Stade Vélodrome, you'll see Mason Greenwood tearing up Ligue 1. He's scoring hat-tricks in the Coupe de France and guiding Marseille through Champions League nights like he never left the big stage. For a lot of fans at Old Trafford, it's a "what if" that stays buried under the Ruben Amorim era. But for the club's board, the Mason Greenwood Man Utd connection is currently a massive financial asset sitting on a French balance sheet.
Basically, the cord wasn't cut; it was just turned into a tether.
When the permanent move to Marseille happened in the summer of 2024 for roughly £26.6 million, the headlines focused on the "fresh start." What got lost in the noise was the specific architecture of that deal. United didn't just sell a player; they retained a massive stake in his future value through a 50% sell-on clause.
That is an astronomical percentage. Usually, these clauses sit around 10% or 15%. Fifty? That’s "we know what we're losing" territory.
The Financial Hook: How Man Utd Still Profits
Marseille president Pablo Longoria recently let it slip that the math is shifting, but not enough to hurt United's bottom line significantly. As of early 2026, Marseille has reportedly managed to claw back some of those economic rights—likely through performance triggers or Champions League qualification milestones. Even so, United is still looking at a 40% to 50% cut of any profit from his next move.
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With Greenwood currently valued by some European scouts at north of £80 million—and rumors of Liverpool being "crazy" about him as a Mo Salah replacement—United could be looking at a windfall of £30 million or more without him ever stepping foot back in Carrington.
It’s a weird, clinical way to handle a departure that was anything but clinical.
The International Tug-of-War
While the money is straightforward, the international situation is a mess. Honestly, it’s a bit of a soap opera. For a while, it looked like a done deal that he’d switch to Jamaica. Steve McClaren, the former United coach who took the Jamaica job, was openly courting him. He even got the paperwork started for a Jamaican passport.
But then, things got quiet.
Reports from late 2025 suggest Greenwood is "obsessed" with an England return. It sounds far-fetched given the FA’s stance and Thomas Tuchel’s current focus, but the form is hard to ignore. He’s putting up numbers that compete with the best in Europe. In the 2025/26 season alone, he’s already hit double digits in goals before the February cold has even set in.
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He's in a sort of international "no man's land."
- Jamaica wants him, but he hasn't signed the final FIFA switch papers.
- England (the FA) hasn't given the green light for a recall.
- The player is reportedly waiting for the "impossible" call-up.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Exit
There’s a common misconception that United just wanted him gone at any price. If that were true, they wouldn't have fought for that 50% clause. They knew the talent hadn't evaporated, even if the brand association had become untenable in the UK.
The internal investigation at United, which concluded in 2023, was a PR nightmare that lasted months. They eventually landed on a "mutual agreement" that he wouldn't play for the club again. But "not playing for us" is different from "not making us money."
By shipping him to Getafe first and then Marseille, United effectively outsourced the rehabilitation of his transfer value. It worked.
Why It Still Matters for United’s Summer Plans
The money matters because of PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules). Every penny United gets from a Greenwood sale counts as pure profit on the books because he was an academy graduate.
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If Marseille sells him to a club like Atletico Madrid or Barcelona this summer—both of whom have sent scouts to France recently—United’s 50% cut could be the difference between them signing a world-class center-back or settling for a "project" player.
It’s the ultimate irony. The player the club decided they couldn't afford to keep (socially) might be the reason they can afford to rebuild (financially).
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're tracking this saga, stop looking at the Manchester United team sheet and start looking at the Marseille transfer rumors. Here is what to watch for in the coming months:
- The "De Zerbi" Factor: If Roberto De Zerbi leaves Marseille for a bigger job (he’s been linked to the United job himself recently), Greenwood’s future becomes highly unstable. He is De Zerbi's "project," and a change in management usually triggers a sale.
- The 65% Cap: Keep an eye on reports regarding Marseille's "buy-back" of economic rights. If Marseille triggers enough clauses to reduce United's share to 35%, United's leverage in the summer market drops significantly.
- The March International Window: This is the deadline. If he doesn't play for Jamaica in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, he is effectively holding out for a post-World Cup 2026 England recall.
The Mason Greenwood Man Utd story isn't a closed chapter. It's just a different kind of book now—one written in euros, sell-on percentages, and performance-based add-ons.
Whether he ever returns to the Premier League is a question of optics. Whether United continues to benefit from his career is already a matter of contract.
Track the Marseille goal tallies and the "economic rights" updates from the French press. Those are the only metrics that actually determine how this ends for the Old Trafford hierarchy. For more on how United handles sell-on clauses, you can check the latest financial briefings from club-adjacent analysts like Kieran Maguire.
Monitor the Ligue 1 top scorer charts through the end of the 2025/26 season. If he breaks the 25-goal mark, expect a bidding war to start before June, which will directly inflate United's summer transfer kitty.