Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi has praised Mason Greenwood for working harder than he ever has before over the weekend. The forward has come under fire this season for his work ethic off the ball, but his manager is keen to help him reach his potential with the French side.
De Zerbi’s side cruised to a 4-1 victory over Brest on Sunday, with Amine Gouiri bagging a hat-trick which included a sensational overhead kick. Greenwood was also on the score sheet, netting his 19th goal of the campaign in the 37th minute.
The strike leaves the ex-Manchester United star two goals behind Ousmane Dembele in the race for the golden boot, but it was Greenwood’s work throughout the match which drew praise from De Zerbi – and the forward appears to be taking on board the criticism of his Italian boss.
Speaking after the match about how his squad will head to Italy for a training camp this week, the former Brighton manager said: “Italy? Tuesday. We’re going to work, be together. It’s not a punishment. The players are happy… have you ever seen Mason Greenwood work like today? It was the first time.
“You have to give the players credit. Sometimes you lose points because of bad attitudes, but not because they’re not good guys.”
Greenwood’s revitalised performance came after Marseille supporters had hit out at the No. 10 and took a banner into the Orange Velodrome to call for the 23-year-old and midfielder Luis Henrique to show more effort off the ball. The banner read: “Greenwood, Henrique, get moving.”
De Zerbi has made it no secret that he feels Greenwood has untapped potential, and the former Shakhtar Donetsk boss has been working closely with the forward’s father to help him get his career back on track in the Ligue 1. He continued: “He is an introverted person, a little closed, but he has a wonderful family around him, an extraordinary father with whom I worked a lot, he helped me a lot to manage him, with the help also of Mehdi Benatia.
“It is true that sometimes he gives us the impression that he can score three or four goals per game, and sometimes also that he wastes a little of his potential and his value. So how can we help him? Well sometimes by cuddling him, by taking care of him and sometimes also by being harder so that he continues his progression. This is the main objective that I have with all my players, beyond all those that we can have with the club, because if I make my players progress we can achieve the club’s objectives faster.”