England footballer Mason Greenwood was in police custody last night after being arrested on charges of rape and assault.
The Manchester United forward, 20, was detained after disturbing photos and audio circulated on social media accusing him of assaulting an 18-year-old student.
The images showed the woman covered in blood and crushed.
Another post, dated October last year, included a voice recording of a conversation between a man and a woman, in which the woman was allegedly attacked.
Within hours of the message appearing and spreading on social media, his club issued a statement saying it was aware of him and was making inquiries to ‘establish the full circumstances’.
It added: ‘Manchester United does not condone violence of any kind.’
Mason Greenwood (pictured with England manager Gareth Southgate) is at the center of a police investigation and arrested this weekend on suspicion of rape and assault.
Pictured: A police crime scene investigation van parked outside Mason Greenwood’s home
The plainclothes officers questioned the woman at her family’s home yesterday afternoon.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said they had launched an investigation after being “aware of online social media images and videos posted by a woman reporting incidents of physical violence”.
He said: ‘After enquiry, we can confirm that a 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of rape and assault. He is in custody for questioning. The inquiry is on.
Forensic officers also arrived at Greenwood’s £2million mansion in the upmarket village of Bowden, Cheshire, last evening.
Manchester United suspended the rising star, who reports £75,000 a week, shortly before news of his arrest surfaced.
In a second statement, the club hierarchy said the player would “not return to training or play matches until further notice”.
Image: The Crime Scene Investigation Unit arrived at Mason Greenwood’s home on Sunday
Police and security stand outside Manchester United’s home of Mason Greenwood
News of Greenwood’s suspension and arrest could also jeopardize his lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike. Yesterday a spokesman for the sports brand said they were “deeply concerned by the disturbing allegations” and would be “monitoring the situation closely”.
The allegedly objectionable posts were online for a few hours before they were removed.
The woman’s father told the Daily Mail that his daughter thought her Instagram account had been hacked.
Speaking from his £1million home in an upmarket Cheshire village, the 61-year-old company director called the allegations “horrific”.
He said, ‘I’m just coming to terms with it. ‘As a father you don’t want to know that such things are happening to your daughter. She is devastated. But he is safe. It is now in the hands of the police.
Campaigners and women’s charities also welcomed the investigation into the “shocking” allegations.
Pictured: Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood was arrested this weekend
Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal said the photographs, and in particular the voice notes, were ‘shocking in the extreme’. “Manchester United should deal with this but it is also clearly a police matter,” he said.
Greenwood was born in Bradford in October 2001. At the age of four, she won a local newspaper’s modeling contest and was given a £50 voucher and a year’s prize with an agency.
Two years later, he joined Manchester United’s renowned academy, hoping to follow in the footsteps of previous graduates such as David Beckham and Paul Scholes, gaining attention by scoring ten goals on his debut for a local youth team.
In March 2019 he became the youngest footballer to play for United in the Champions League at the age of 17.
Mason Greenwood plays for Manchester United at Old Trafford on 22 January
Greenwood has played 129 matches for the Old Trafford club, scoring 35 goals. He has a number 11 shirt that was previously worn by Ryan Giggs.
England manager Gareth Southgate handed him his first cap in 2020 at the age of just 18 – a substitute appearance in the 1-0 win against Iceland.
However, he was sent home in disgrace after the match when he and teammate Phil Foden, also 20, broke coronavirus rules by letting two Icelandic students into the team hotel.
Police in Reykjavik fined them both and Greenwood apologized, saying he only blamed himself for a ‘big mistake’.
Southgate – who described the pairing as ‘idiots’ – said Greenwood would not play for England until 2022 after he was forced to withdraw from the team due to an injury at last year’s Euros.
Weeks after the Iceland incident, Man United officials spoke to him amid concerns that he was not leaving for training on time.
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