Mason Greenwood is "making a difference" for Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille amid their strong start to the Ligue 1 season, says the club's chief executive, Pablo Longoria. (More Football News)
Greenwood joined Marseille on a permanent deal from Manchester United in July, having🌜 spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Getafe.
Greenwood had not appeared for United since he was arrested and suspended by the club in January 2022. The forward was later charged with attempted rape and assault, which he denied, with the charges dropped in early 2023 following the withdrawal of key witn🔯esses.
He has scored five times in his first three Ligue 1 appearances for Marseille, becoming just the second player to achieve that feat in the last 50 🅷seasons of the French top flight, after Nice's Mario Balotelli ꧙in 2016.
He scored an 81-second brace in the f🌜irst half of a 3-1 win at Toulouse prior to the international break, lifting Marseille to seven points from🧸 their first three games.
While Marseille's move for the 22-year-old drew criticism from many onlookers, Longorꦆia has been impressed by his impact on the pitch.
Speaking at the Thinking Football Summit organised by Liga Portugal, Longoria told Stat🥀s Perform: "He's a great player. He's making a difference.
"If you're asking all the players, all the people that are in the day-to-day with the team, they can tell you that his level is amazing ♒and we are really happy having him. ;
"We are really happy about the start of 𝓰the season he is doing and the behaviour he's having with us in Marseille."
Marseille pulled off what many saw as a coup to appoint De Zerbi as their new head coach ah🐠ead of this season, following his surprise exit from Brighton.
Longoria believes the Italian has been a seamless fit at the Stade Velodrome, saying: "What I appreciated was the firmnes🌼s of Roberto de Zerbi in all the conversations and the connection that he has created wit♔h us since the first day.
"This is the biggest sati𒁏sfac൲tion that I can say, and I'm very thankful to the coach for how he's adapting himself to the project."
Marseille are currently second in the Ligue 1 standings, two points behi༒nd champions Paris Saint-Germain, who lost Kylian Mbappe to Real 𒊎Madrid ahead of the new campaign.
While Longoria believes M꧑arseille's project is one for the medium-to-long term, he refuses to put๊ a limit on their ambitions for 2024-25.
"They are having a great start to the season as well, to be hone🌸st. Our objective is to build a project𝓡 over three years. That is the number one," he said of PSG.
"Second, we are really happy with how we s🎀tarted this season. Our goal has to be in the Champions Lea𝔍gue and improve our level.
"After that, let's see what the competition will put on u☂s. We need to be ambitious, but at the same time, we need to beཧ realistic as well. I'm not saying that we cannot compete.
"I'm asking for a bit of patience because this is a three-year project, andꦇ we really want to improve each day, each week, and each game day. We need to improve our level."