What do Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments mean for Mason Greenwood’s Man Utd future?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe reopened the debate about Mason Greenwood's Manchester United career last week when he said: “It's quite clear we have to make a decision. The process will be to understand the facts, not the hype, and then try to come to a fair decision based on values — is he a good guy or not and answer whether could he play sincerely for Manchester United well and would we be comfortable with it and would the fans be comfortable with it?”

Before meeting the media on his first day as United co-owner, Ratcliffe knew he would be asked about Greenwood, so had an answer in mind. His view is that, as with all other aspects of the club, his INEOS team, spearheaded by Sir Dave Brailsford, will take a fresh look and decide for themselves how to proceed.

But equally, this was not a case of Ratcliffe repeating a rehearsed selection of words. When pressed, he elaborated organically, possibly more than intended. Choosing to call the reaction around Greenwood's potential reintroduction “hype” felt to some like the wrong characterisation.

At Old Trafford, there were a few deep breaths at returning to a subject that caused such turmoil last summer. The outright rebellion that met United's original plan, under former chief executive Richard Arnold, to reintegrate Greenwood has not emerged yet, but staff members have voiced unease at a possible turnaround. There is no sense the strength of feeling that forced a U-turn in August has dissipated in the intervening months.

Greenwood had been subject to an internal club investigation following a decision in February by the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to discontinue its case against him for attempted rape, assault, and coercive control after key witnesses withdrew their cooperation