Mason Greenwood potentially joining a club in Saudi Arabia would be “very surprising”, a senior league source has told BBC Sport.

Saudi teams have spent heavily on big-name signings this summer and Greenwood has been the subject of internal talk.

However, the league believes that would not be the right move at this time.

Player acquisition in Saudi Arabia works differently elsewhere, with the league doing the bidding or deals for the players before assigning them the club they will play for.

Last year also saw the inaugural season of the Saudi Women’s Premier League.

Saudi women’s football is “breaking records”, said Lamia Bahaian, the first female vice-president of the Saudi Football Federation (Saff). said Friday.

Saff saw an 86% increase in the number of registered female players last year, while the number of women’s clubs nationwide also increased by 56%.

The source added, “The government has created a women’s league, which is about to start its second season on October 11. This is also a significant difference because it is perceived by the whole community.

“It’s an incredible change. Women’s football was totally frowned upon; there is now a national team with a Fifa ranking.

“Women are playing without headgear and there are male fans in the stands, it’s a big cultural change.”

Meanwhile, Al-Ettifaq manager Steven Gerrard said on Instagram that his side are considering signing Greenwood as ‘fake news’.

What happened with Greenwood?

Greenwood was arrested in January 2022 following allegations regarding documents posted online.

Charges against the 21-year-old England international, including attempted rape and assault, have been dropped. discontinued on February 2, 2023.

United said in a statement on Monday: “All involved, including Mason, recognize the difficulties he will have in resuming his career at Manchester United.

“So it was mutually agreed that it would be more appropriate for him to do this away from Old Trafford, and we will now work with Mason to achieve that result.”

Last week, a group of United supporters demonstrated outside Old Trafford ahead of the Wolves game over his potential return, and said they wanted the club to ‘show a zero tolerance approach’ to the game. regard to violence against women.

Female fans against Greenwood’s return issued a lengthy statement saying Greenwood’s reinstatement would tell them “as women, that we don’t matter.”

Greenwood said on Monday he had “made mistakes”, but added: “I didn’t do the things I was accused of.”