"Greenwood's behaviour is unspeakable, unacceptable," Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan told French radio station RMC on Tuesday. "Hitting his wife ... I saw images that deeply shocked me. Massacring his wife in this way is unbecoming of a man and he cannot have his place on this team. "The values ​​of OM and Marseille are anything but that in fact. It's a shame. I will ask \[Marseille president] Pablo Longoria not to recruit Greenwood. I don't want my club to be covered with the shame of someone who hits his wife."

A team meeting with teenage soccer players isn’t normally something to make news but this particular event, held in 200-plus capacity event space at Red Bull Arena with every player from the club’s top under-12 to under-17 teams, was a little different.