Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has slammed England over the treatment of Mason Greenwood and does not believe the youngster should even have been called up in the first place.
The 18-year-old forward was sent home early from national team duty before facing Denmark after he and Phil Foden breached the biosecure bubble while in Iceland by inviting two girls back to the team hotel.
Greenwood has been heavily criticised for his actions, with suggestions it could also impact his place in the United team.
But Solskjaer has defended his player and welcomed him back at United, criticising England for selecting him for the two UEFA Nations League matches and underlining the need to protect him.
‘Of course I speak to Mason and I’ve spoken to Mason, what we speak about and discuss will be between the two of us,’ said the Norwegian coach at his pre-match press conference before facing Crystal Palace on Saturday.
‘The kid had a fantastic season, he’s just come through, I’ve worked and the club have worked really hard to when we gave Mason enough time on the pitch, exposure in the media.
‘Then you come to the end of the season and we’ve had less than two weeks off and he’s called up. I tried my best to give him a rest over the summer, we asked specifically he should have had a rest.
‘We’ve done what we can to protect him, I’ve done what I can to help him, when he comes back into the daily routine he’ll be fine.’
On whether Greenwood is in contention to feature against Palace, Solskjaer continued: ‘Yeah, he’s part of the group.
‘With the testing and Covid protocols, he trained by himself for a little while and as soon as possible he’s a big part of this group, this is where we feels at home, not comfortable, we challenge him, got people looking after him, had a plan with him throughout the season and it worked really well.
‘He needed a rest. I look at the interview he did for the FA and he’s talking about looking at this season when it’s over and it’s first day of new season, he’s an 18-year-old kid who needs managing.’
