It was an unlikely prospect anyway, but the chances of Jude Bellingham and Mason Greenwood being pals now stand at zero.
In an extraordinary moment, Bellingham appeared to mouth the word 'rapist' to Greenwood after putting in a crunching tackle on him during Thursday night's Getafe vs Real Madrid clash.
Clips of the incident immediately went viral on social media and forensic lip-reader Jeremy Freeman had told Mail Sport he's '97 per cent confident' Bellingham did mutter the offensive term.
Greenwood was a regular for Manchester United when he was charged with attempted rape, assault and coercive behaviour in January 2022.
His career was put on hold but in February 2023, the charges were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service following the withdrawal of key witnesses.
That didn't enable forward Greenwood, 22, to pick up what had been a promising Old Trafford career but he was able to continue playing football by going out on loan at LaLiga club Getafe.
Greenwood secured his move to Spain on September 1 last year and has since scored six goals and contributed four assists for a club that currently sits 10th in LaLiga.
He arrived a few weeks after England midfielder Bellingham, 20, sealed a dream £88.5million move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid.
Regarded as one of the best young players in world football, Bellingham has certainly lived up to his billing by scoring 18 goals and setting up a further eight in 27 matches so far.
Wearing the No 5 shirt once worn by the revered Zinedine Zidane has not proved a heavy burden for Bellingham, who will be pivotal to England's Euro 2024 hopes this summer.
If things had played out differently, Bellingham and Greenwood could have been team-mates for both club and country - and much
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