Getafe head coach Jose Bordalas has been forced to apologise after wrongly claiming Jude Bellingham was a key part of Mason Greenwood’s move to Getafe.
It was clearly an ill-advised comment that happen during all the chaos that Getafe created around Mason Greenwood’s arrival.
The 21-year-old joined the La Liga side on loan from Manchester United earlier this month and made his first appearance for his new club off the bench on Sunday.
Greenwood came on as a 77th minute substitute in their 3-2 home win over Osasuna. The away supporters made their feelings known on the day, too, with a video showing them chanting ‘Greenwood, die’, as seen below:
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Osasuna fans chanting "Greenwood, die"@TheAthleticFC pic.twitter.com/A7zhAxyD5b
— Guillermo Rai (@GuillermoRai_) September 17, 2023
Bordalas previously revealed that he had been told that Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, had told Greenwood to move to Spain. He appears to have had lost the run of himself whilst appearing on Radio Marca.
“Greenwood has a friendship with Bellingham and he recommended that he come and play in the Spanish league.”
The Athletic now claim that Bordalas was informed that Bellingham’s entourage were unhappy with his comments and, following Sunday’s win over Osasuna, he retracted his previous statement.
“I wanted to clear up a misunderstanding there has been. I said that Mason Greenwood came to Getafe because he had spoken to Bellingham,” Bordalas said.
“It has been clarified to me that this was not the case. I apologise. Mason arrived in a different way. It was our interest and they offered him to me and we were very interested. I just wanted to clarify that, it was not a bad intention.”
It goes without saying that Bordalas received a slap on the wrist somewhat and Bellingham wasn’t too happy with the association. Why on earth would the former Birmingham City academy graduate want to be dragged into such a situation when everything – on the pitch at least – is going his way at the moment?
Meanwhile, it is believed Getafe have since reached out to Bellingham.
Bordalas is very happy to have Greenwood as part of his group and was pleased with his first cameo in a Getafe shirt. He added: “We were pleasantly surprised, it was a tough match and a tough time. There was a lot of back and forth. He has helped in offensive tasks, he has been very supportive.
“We are working with patience and tranquility, he has not played for many months. Today must have been a very special day for him. The player wants to compete and play. We have seen the response from the fans and his teammates. We have to be calm. The participation has been remarkable.
“We are very happy, he is very integrated for such a short period. The language is a handicap, he is with a teacher to try to accelerate the learning of Spanish to have better contact with his teammates. He is having a remarkable start, we are very happy and content.
“We are on the sidelines of what can be commented, I already clarified it. Now we are only talking about sports, I have told my teammates, we are happy with Mason’s behaviour. It’s good for him.”
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