The Daily Telegraph - 06.08.2019

right noises at United

Raised in Wibsey, Bradford, to

parents Andrew and Melanie,

Greenwood played for local team

Westwood Juniors as a five and

six-year-old and was spotted by

United at a tournament, after

which he was invited to one of the

club’s satellite development

centres in Huddersfield. Mark

Senior was one of Greenwood’s

early coaches and recalls a lad who

would turn up 20 minutes early for

practice and, even at that age, had

the shooting power with both feet

of a boy five or six years his senior.

And then there was his speed and

skill. “He was absolutely rapid,”

Senior recalls. “And as soon as you

showed him a little trick or

anything, he would just do it

straight away.”

Andrew and Melanie have

MANCHESTER UNITED

MASON

GREENWOOD

CLUB

Man United

POSITION

Striker

AGE

17

BORN

Wibsey,

Bradford

CONTRACT EXPIRES

2021

FIRST-TEAM

APPEARANCES

4

INTERNATIONAL

HONOURS

England

Under-18

BACKGROUND

Spotted by United in

a tournament in

Yorkshire, he was

invited into the

club’s development

centre and then

signed. On a rapid

ascent since 15.

WHAT THEY SAY

“You see a talented

boy and he’s got

every opportunity to

make it as a Man

United player. He’s a

natural footballer”

• Ole Gunnar
  Solskjaer, manager

Spurs fear cut-price

bids to sign Eriksen

By Matt Law

FOOTBALL NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Tottenham Hotspur are braced for

European clubs making cut-price

bids for Christian Eriksen if he is

not sold before the English transfer

window shuts on Thursday.

Although Premier League clubs

cannot sign players after 5pm on

Thursday, the transfer windows in

Italy, Spain, Germany and France

do not shut until Sept 2.

Tottenham are working hard to

try to sign at least one of Bruno Fer-

nandes or Giovani Lo Celso before

the deadline, despite Eriksen still

being at the club.

That gives the likes of Juventus,

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid,

who have all shown an interest in

Eriksen, the chance to try to drive

down the midfielder’s price after

Thursday’s English window has

shut. Inter Milan are also monitor-

ing the situation.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had

valued Eriksen at £130 million

when English clubs made inquiries

at the end of last season, but Euro-

pean clubs may try to snap up the

Dane for less than £50 million.

Eriksen, 27, is entering the final

12 months of his contract and Tot-

tenham face losing him for nothing

if he is not sold this summer. Erik-

sen is yet to attract a firm offer.

Juventus and Real Madrid could

make moves for Eriksen after

Thursday, depending on what hap-

pens with Paul Pogba at Manches-

ter United, while Atletico have also

been keeping an eye on the Spurs

player, and Inter coach Antonio

Conte wants reinforcements.

Tottenham could face similar sit-

uations over Toby Alderweireld

and Danny Rose, who had both

been expected to leave this sum-

mer. Rose may be allowed to sign

for a European club after Thursday

if, as expected, Spurs buy Fulham

left-back Ryan Sessegnon.

Like Eriksen, Alderweireld is en-

tering the last year of his contract

which means Tottenham may be

forced to listen to offers for the Bel-

gian after the window closes.

Roma refused to meet Alder-

weireld’s £25 million release clause

that expired last month and would

not meet Levy’s subsequent

£40 million valuation. But they are

considering making a new ap-

proach after Thursday.

Juan Foyth is out until next

month with an ankle injury. He

misses the first two games of the

season through suspension.

worked hard to keep their children

humble and grounded.

Greenwood’s dad still works as an

engineer in Yorkshire, even though

the family have relocated to

Manchester. It has helped

Greenwood that Kieran McKenna,

previously his coach with the

under-18s, is now working with the

first team. McKenna has been an

important figure in helping to

smooth Greenwood’s transition

and even now he takes him, and

the likes of Chong, Gomes and

Garner, aside before training, to

talk them through the day’s

sessions.

Help, advice and the right

environment will only get

Greenwood so far, though. The

rest, of course, is down to him, but

he is making all the right noises.

‘As soon as you showed him anything,

he would just do it straight away’

MM

en

n

gh

a,

he

ut

By Jason Burt

CHIEF FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT

Watford have rejected a bid of

£32 million from Everton for mid-

fielder Abdoulaye Doucoure.

Although it is understood that

Watford would have considered

offers for the 26-year-old earlier

this summer, Everton’s bid is not

only significantly below their valu-

ation, but has also come far too late

in the transfer window.

Watford have therefore informed

Everton that Doucoure, a key player

in Javi Gracia’s side, is not for sale at

any price ahead of the transfer win-

dow closing on Thursday.

It is believed Doucoure would

only want to move to an established

top-six side or overseas if he is to

leave Watford so that he can play

European football. Everton’s inter-

est is long-standing, but it is a sur-

prise they have made an approach

at this stage of the window given

they have signed three midfielders

this summer: Andre Gomes, Fabian

Delph and, recently, Jean-Philippe

Gbamin from German club Mainz

for £25 million. They sold Idrissa

Gana Gueye to Paris St-Germain.

Marco Silva’s most pressing pri-

orities are to sign another right-

back to provide competition for

Seamus Coleman, and to try to con-

vince Chelsea to sell Kurt Zouma.

Everton have been strongly

linked in France with a move for

Monaco’s Djibril Sidibe. A loan for

the 27-year-old full-back, with an

option to buy, would make sense

given his history of injury problems

and Everton’s budget.

Meanwhile, Watford’s priority

remains to try to sign Senegal for-

ward Ismaila Sarr from Rennes.

Watford reject £32m swoop

for Doucoure by Everton

In brief

Palace sign free agent Cahill

Crystal Palace have signed former

England and Chelsea central

defender Gary Cahill on a free

transfer. Burnley, West Ham and

Aston Villa all showed interest in

Cahill this summer, but Palace

have won the race for the 33-year-

old, who won two Premier League

titles at Chelsea. Cahill has agreed a

two-year contract worth in the

region of £75,000 a week.

Adrian seals Anfield move

Liverpool have completed the

signing of former West Ham

goalkeeper Adrian to replace

Simon Mignolet. The Belgian has

joined Club Brugge, and Liverpool

have signed Adrian on a two-year

deal as back-up to Alisson.

Maupay joins Brighton

Brighton & Hove Albion have

completed the signing of striker

Neal Maupay from Brentford for

£20million. Head coach Graham

Potter said: “Neal is a talented

striker, with good strength and

pace, and he is a goalscorer. He will

add an extra dimension to our

existing forward options.”

The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 6 August 2019 *** 11