Greenwood will face harsh abuse from Villa Park's home supporters tonight, nearly five years after his last match on English soil.

The former Manchester United forward faced accusations of attempted rape, assault, and controlling and coercive behaviour in 2022.

Those charges were later dropped, but Greenwood was released by Manchester United in August 2023 and was forced to rebuild his career, first at Getafe, then Marseille, and now Fenerbahce.

This Champions League group stage match will put Greenwood further in the spotlight. He has not played in England since January 2022, and was previously accused of spitting at Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana during a pre-season friendly 14 months ago.

The incident sparked confrontation, with angry Villa players, including Mings, tearing his Marseille shirt as they left the pitch.

Greenwood's return to England will therefore not be a straightforward affair.

Villa right-back Cash said: "A few years ago he was at Manchester United, he was very young at the time, but he was already one of the best players in his position.

"He remains a major attacking threat. He'll return to England with something to prove, so this will be a good test for us.

"We talked on Monday – if you concede two goals or more, you can't win a match at this level."

Greenwood was arrested in February 2022 and released on bail, but was suspended by Manchester United.

The charges were eventually dropped after key witnesses withdrew from the case and "new material" emerged.

The 25-year-old left Manchester United following a six-month internal investigation into his conduct.

For a talent like his, it has been a rather dramatic fall. Commentators once ranked him alongside Manchester City's Foden.

Manchester United manager at the time, Solskjaer, called him the best natural finisher in the squad, and Ferdinand compared him to Van Persie.

In France, Greenwood scored 21 goals in his first season, matching Dembele as Ligue 1's top scorer.

The following season, he scored 26 goals across all competitions.

However, despite his impressive on-pitch statistics, Greenwood had off-pitch conflicts with Marseille's sporting director Mehdi Benatia and manager De Zerbi.

So when Fenerbahce made a £33 million offer in July and were willing to pay weekly wages well over £150,000, Marseille accepted.

Diterjemahkan oleh AI.

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