Tottenham's Stance on Mason Greenwood Under De Zerbi

Tottenham’s new era under Roberto De Zerbi is gathering pace in the transfer market – but one name will not be part of it.

Despite fresh links from France and suggestions of a Premier League return, Tottenham Hotspur are not pursuing a move for Mason Greenwood from Olympique de Marseille, football.london understands. There is no plan, no talks, no intention to bring the 24-year-old forward to north London.

That stance matters. Greenwood’s situation has followed De Zerbi from Marseille to Spurs, shadowing the Italian’s arrival and immediately testing the club’s resolve at the start of what they hope will be a transformative summer.

Spurs draw a line

Greenwood remains under a long-term contract at the Orange Vélodrome until June 2029. On the pitch, his numbers last season were striking. He played 45 times in all competitions for Marseille, with 32 of those appearances coming while De Zerbi was still in charge.

Under the Italian, Greenwood delivered: 22 goals, eight assists. A high-impact forward in a demanding environment, producing at a rate that inevitably draws attention in a market short of top-level attacking talent.

After De Zerbi’s departure, Greenwood added another four goals and three assists in the remaining 13 games. The output never really dipped. For a purely football department, the profile would be obvious: young, productive, under a coach who knows him and has already built an attacking framework around him.

Tottenham, though, are not operating in a vacuum.

A contentious history

Greenwood, a Manchester United academy graduate, had charges against him – including attempted rape and assault – dropped in February 2023. The case, and the evidence that circulated publicly, left a deep mark on how he is perceived in England, regardless of the legal outcome.

De Zerbi had previously spoken about Greenwood during their time together in France, describing him as a “good guy” who had paid a “heavy price.” The Italian stressed he did not want to get involved in anyone’s private life, saying he could only judge the player he worked with on a daily basis and that the person he knew in Marseille was “very different” to the version portrayed in England.

Those remarks did not disappear when Tottenham came calling. They travelled with him.

When De Zerbi was appointed as the permanent successor to Igor Tudor at Spurs, just two months after leaving Marseille, the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust issued a strongly worded statement. The group said his arrival “raises serious and far-reaching concerns,” underlining the strength of feeling among sections of the fanbase on issues of violence against women and how clubs respond to them.

Despite that, Spurs pressed ahead and handed De Zerbi a five-year contract. The club backed their choice of head coach. The reaction ensured, though, that any future link between De Zerbi and Greenwood would be politically explosive in N17.

De Zerbi’s apology and stance

Aware of the backlash, De Zerbi moved quickly to address his previous comments in his first interview with club media.

He apologised for the way his remarks had been received and was explicit about his position. He said he had “never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women or violence against anyone more broadly” and stressed that, throughout his life, he had “always stood up for who are more vulnerable, more fragile” and taken a stand for those “more at risk.”

He repeated that he is not the type of person to make compromises “to win more games or to win an extra title” and apologised to those he had offended. He referenced his own family, saying: “I have a daughter, and I’m very sensitive to these things and always have been.” His hope, he added, was that over time people would get to know him better and understand that, in that earlier moment, he “didn’t mean to take a stance.”

The subject did not disappear there. Speaking again to reporters ahead of his first game in charge of Tottenham, De Zerbi admitted he felt “sad and sorry it happened” and repeated that the topic is “very close” to him.

“I have always been against – always – any type of violence, especially against women,” he said, broadening it out to “even just sexist jokes or other sexist behaviours.” Once more he pointed to his daughter, saying he is “directly affected by it,” and underlined that he knows the type of person he is, insisting he was not annoyed by the questions, only saddened by them.

A clear message on Greenwood

Set against that backdrop, Spurs’ position on Greenwood is telling. As De Zerbi starts to shape a squad to match his ambitious, front-foot style, the club are distancing themselves from a transfer that would ignite a fierce debate and reopen wounds that have barely begun to heal.

The football case for Greenwood is obvious. The wider context is louder.

Tottenham have moved early this summer, aiming to give De Zerbi the tools for an “exciting new era” rather than a drawn-out rebuild. But their refusal to pursue Greenwood sends a different kind of signal – about the boundaries they are drawing as they build, about the kind of club they intend to be under their new head coach, and about which storms they are simply not prepared to walk into.