Mason Greenwood’s French renaissance continues after the former Manchester United forward bagged a brace in under a minute for new club Marseille.
The 22-year-old has now netted five goals in three appearances since switching Old Trafford for Stade Velodrome in July for a reported £19.8million fee.
Greenwood opened the scoring between Marseille and Toulouse in the 16th minute, before rapidly adding another in under 60 seconds.
The former United Academy product now shares the same goal tally in the first three games of a Ligue 1 season as another Mancunian – but one who played for blue half of Manchester.
Greenwood matches Mario Balotelli’s goalscoring record at the same point of the season, after the former Manchester City player signed for Nice in 2016.
Mason Greenwood netted twice in under a minute as Marseille beat Toulouse 3-1 on Saturday
The former Manchester United player has enjoyed an exceptional start to life in Ligue 1
Greenwood’s Ligue 1 goal tally matches that of former City player, Mario Balotelli in 2016
Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi singled out Greenwood for praise as the club sits top of Ligue 1
He’ll be hoping to match the Italian’s prowess in front of French goals, too, after he scored 33 times in 66 Ligue 1 appearances, between 2016 and 2019.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s match between travelling Marseille and Toulouse ended 3-1 at the host’s Stadium Municipal.
Brazilian forward Luis Henrique provided the assists for both Greenwood goals with Marseille’s third coming by way of an own goal from Toulouse centre-back, Charlie Cresswell.
The hosts scored a consolation late into the second half, however, with Gabon striker Shavy Babicka slotting neatly past Marseille keeper, Geronimo Rulli.
Marseille manager Roberto De Zerbi has a player in rich form in Greenwood, who scored twice against Brest on his debut for the Ligue 1 club earlier in August, and once against Reims just last week.
Greenwood will be looking to repay the faith Les Olympiens have showed in him, after leaving Manchester before his career ever truly got going.
The forward started his professional career at Old Trafford following much hype around his talent, but was suspended in January 2022 following allegations of attempted rape and sexual assault.
Prosecutors, however, dropped the charges in February 2023, allowing Greenwood to restart his career. He did so by spending last season on loan in Spain for Getafe, where he scored eight goals in 33 LaLiga appearances.
‘We had a good first half, scoring two goals,’ Marseille’s new head coach, Roberto De Zerbi, told reporters after the match.
Mason Greenwood joined Marseille from Man United this summer for an initial £19.8million fee
The 22-year-old forward has scored five goals in just three appearances for Les Olympiens
Greenwood last played for United in January 2022 before he was charged with attempted rape, assault and coercive control. Greenwood denied the charges before the case was dropped
‘It gave us an advantage to have an extra player and we relied on our strength in one-on-ones, particularly Greenwood, to score the brace.
‘We still need to improve the speed and mentality of this team. We shouldn’t have conceded the goal, should have won 3-0.’
Marseille now sit seven points atop of Ligue 1 level with Nantes, who won 3-1 away at Montpellier on Saturday.
