Alex Greenwood | Happy at United but "needed to take the risk" and go to Lyon

We need to bring in Sakina Karchaoui to compete for the now depleted Left Back role. She would truly be a fantastic addition to the team :drool:
 
Shocking to let go of probably your best player and captain like this. I'm assuming she wanted to go.
 
Why is this being communicated late on a sunday night and not on monday morning? Do the club want to hide it away or what?
 
BlueHaze said:
Shocking to let go of probably your best player and captain like this. I'm assuming she wanted to go.
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Well there's a huge difference between United and Lyon, and the women are generally on very short contracts, so if she wants to go there's not much we can do about it.
 
Gutted to see her go but understandable to see why. Lyon are the best club in the women’s game.
 
Terrible news, Alex has been a great captain for our first season since the comeback, yet it was perhaps now we really needed her. At the same time, the difference between Lyon and Man United in women’s football is bigger than that between Real Madrid and Leeds United for the men, so it’s just pure blind bad luck.

We really will need some leaders with Super league experience this season.
 
Just to put some context on Lyon for people unfamiliar with their status in the women's game. They've won the last 13 French League titles, and the last 4 CLs. They're the home of the current Ballon D'Or - Ada Hegerberg - and have a reputation for scooping up the top talent in Europe.

Aulas, Lyon club president, has encouraged the club to invest in the women's team on the basis that for a small cash outlay, you can get a lot of trophies/PR and be on the right side of history. It's not just money though, they share facilities like the training ground, use the same planes/hotels etc and are generally treated as part of the club in a way that most women's teams aren't. The annual budget is around £7m and Aulas says they're more or less at break even on that - so the gamble/investment is minimal.

While their normal League home ground is a mini stadium (and some of their crowds there are down in the hundreds) their big league games and CL knockout matches are in the club main stadium, with 20k + crowds.

In terms of wages - they are big payers (by women's game standards) - with first team players on around £100k/year typically, and a few on significantly more.

This is a huge opportunity for Alex, so it's hard to complain that she wants to try it.

I'm sure that we tried to keep her - or maybe we didn't, neither our budget nor our team are (yet) in the same category as Lyon.
 
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Grande said:
Terrible news, Alex has been a great captain for our first season since the comeback, yet it was perhaps now we really needed her. At the same time, the difference between Lyon and Man United in women’s football is bigger than that between Real Madrid and Leeds United for the men, so it’s just pure blind bad luck.

We really will need some leaders with Super league experience this season.
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Yep. It's worth noting that City lost Nikita Parris to them this summer and Lucy Bronze made the same move a couple of years ago.

It's been an interesting summer of moves in the women's game. The Spanish clubs in particular are waking up with the arrival of Real Madrid on the scene. Toni Duggan has moved from Barcelona to Atletico. Madrid are recruiting internationals to strengthen their team (having bought an existing Spanish women's team and its place in the league).

I suspect some clubs have looked at Lyon's success and the good viewing figures for the WWC and decided now is a good moment to invest.

I don't think we've done that, but then we said we weren't in a hurry. Unfortunately, the bit of the equation that leaves out is that you can lose your best players because they do need to hurry. I've no idea who we can get in at this stage, who can give us anything like the performances that Alex would.

We shall see.
 
How does a transfer like this work in the womens game?

Does Lyon reach out to Greenwood/agent and ask if she would want to move there? And if she says yes, they contact United and try try negotiate a transfer fee?

Will the transfer fee become public?
 
Lightbringer said:
How does a transfer like this work in the womens game?

Does Lyon reach out to Greenwood/agent and ask if she would want to move there? And if she says yes, they contact United and try try negotiate a transfer fee?

Will the transfer fee become public?
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Yep, apparently she's been on their watch list for a while - even before she joined United. I think the actual move coming now has surprised a lot of Lyon watchers though. On the face of it, their squad is strong enough at leftback already, but it looks like they've decided they don't want to rely on their younger players just yet.

How much warning United got I don't know, apparently the final negotiations happened at the weekend. There will be a transfer fee but fees aren't high in the women's game, so I doubt that this one will be that different. I doubt we'll hear about the money unless we do spend it immediately elsewhere and someone else in the chain talks about it.
 
maybe part of deal for Hannibal Mejbri :D :D

edited: sorry he went from monaco :D so there was another youngster signing for us from lyon
 
A pause in the proceedings:



No, I can't imagine the deal falling through after a public announcement, but then I'm not used to how these things work in the women's game. So, hmm, yes, well...

Presumably just some details about relocation, taxes, and sponsorships, but still it's always interesting to see a bit of the mechanism of a deal.
 
Disappointing!! When I thought we're going to be okay. Mind you the Valerenga game exposed our right side defence. Now with this news we have to look for a left back too?
 
jojojo said:
A pause in the proceedings:



No, I can't imagine the deal falling through after a public announcement, but then I'm not used to how these things work in the women's game. So, hmm, yes, well...

Presumably just some details about relocation, taxes, and sponsorships, but still it's always interesting to see a bit of the mechanism of a deal.
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For her sake, I hope it doesn't fall through.
 
Nick7 said:
For her sake, I hope it doesn't fall through.
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I don't think it will fall through, though maybe some clauses (like what happens in the event of a no-deal Brexit) might mean she needs specialist advice. Keep in mind the women aren't on the kind of money that lets them pay high end agents or have international legal advice sitting around on a retainer, so she might not have someone giving her all the answers instantly.

On the other hand maybe her partner, Jack O'Connell who plays for Sheffield United, sent her a whatsapp of the dog looking plaintively at her empty chair last night :D

At any rate if it does fall through for any reason I think she'll be treated well by the matchgoing fans. We might be novices in the women's game, but most of the women's team fans know by now that Lyon are special - and you don't just say "no" if they come calling.

Incidentally Aulas has been quoted as saying that the Lyon women's team budget will rise to 10m Euros next year because he feels it's time to invest.
 
jojojo said:
I don't think it will fall through, though maybe some clauses (like what happens in the event of a no-deal Brexit) might mean she needs specialist advice. Keep in mind the women aren't on the kind of money that lets them pay high end agents or have international legal advice sitting around on a retainer, so she might not have someone giving her all the answers instantly.

On the other hand maybe her partner, Jack O'Connell who plays for Sheffield United, sent her a whatsapp of the dog looking plaintively at her empty chair last night :D

At any rate if it does fall through for any reason I think she'll be treated well by the matchgoing fans. We might be novices in the women's game, but most of the women's team fans know by now that Lyon are special - and you don't just say "no" if they come calling.

Incidentally Aulas has been quoted as saying that the Lyon women's team budget will rise to 10m Euros next year because he feels it's time to invest.
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Yeah I wouldn't begrudge anyone the chance at moving there. They're a special club in the women's game. I just hate the idea of agreeing a deal like that and it falling through. It would be very tough on her, mentally.
 
Friday 9 August 2019 13:56
Manchester United can confirm that our women's team captain Alex Greenwood has completed a move to Lyon.
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Thats it then, no hope left :-(

Will the club release some kind of statement about the transfer? Facebook, twitter and instagram have been full for days of angry United fans who question the motives behind the sale etc.

Would it really hurt to make some sort of annoncument about why our captain was shipped out?

In this thread, the most logic reasons have been covered at length of course, but for the casual fan it would be good.

Lets face it, most United fans are spoiled and do not realize how it works being lower in the food chain, supplying superior teams with our best players. Losing players for financial reasons etc.
 
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WTF? So we're down to two forwards. We are a fecking shambles. Will he even get games there? They have Depay and Dembele. This has got Januzaj to Dortmund written all over it. FFS.
white text :P
 
So United did offer Alex a new improved contract at least, makes me feel better as obviously the clubs ambition remain as strong as I´ve hoped :-)
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"Manchester United Women manager Casey Stoney says she could not stand in the way of defender Alex Greenwood's move to European champions Lyon.

The England left-back, 25, was United's captain as they won promotion to the Women's Super League last season, having arrived from Liverpool in 2018.

She has signed a one-year deal at Lyon worth 40,000 euros (£36,900), which could rise to 60,000 euros (£55,350).

"It was obviously difficult," former England captain Stoney told BBC Sport.

"We offered Alex a new contract but she had interest from Lyon and once we knew that she was interested in that move, I felt that it was only right that we let her go.

"If a player isn't fully invested here, it's right they move on and follow their dreams. Who was I to stand in her way?"

Greenwood, who has 41 England caps, will join fellow Lionesses Lucy Bronze, Nikita Parris and Izzy Christiansen at the French side, who pay some of the highest wages to female players in the world.

And Stoney says United are not yet in a position to match the salaries being offered by the club who have won the Women's Champions League four years in a row.

"The figures I hear that Lyon pay, no, we can't compete yet because we are in year two," added Stoney, who took charge of United after the club reformed last summer.

"We're going to grow this slowly and we're going to do it in the right way and we're going to make sure everyone's on this journey for the right reasons."


https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49402026
 
Talks to The Times about United and the Lyon move


She talks about knowing that (at 26) the Lyon move was probably a one-time opportunity. She still she'll come back to England eventually, and maybe even back to United.
“I knew at some point I could come back to England and maybe carry on where I left off,” she said.
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Harry190 said:
Those salaries are pitiful to the point of being frightening.
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It's very early days for women's football in Europe as a pro or even a semi-pro game. The significance of the salaries now are that they actually allow women in the English and French leagues to become fulltime players. With the Lyon move Alex may be earning something like £100k/year (including her £25k retainer from the England squad, her Lyon salary and sponsorships). Enough to make it a good job, rather than a hobby or a parttime vocation.

In general, wages in WSL1 are somewhere between 20k/year and 50k/year for first team regulars - with a salary cap for each club. They're trying to balance the survival/sustainability of the teams against the need to create an environment where players are able to play/train as fulltimers and the next generation of youth team players can actually imagine making a living from football.

Casey Stoney was on the radio today, talking about her career. Back when she was winning titles with Arsenal she was paying to play - not just paying for her own kit but also paying a subscription to cover referee fees, travel costs etc. Things have changed a lot, and Lyon are really at the forefront of the change at the pro level, which is why it's understandable that Alex Greenwood would want to see it in action.
 
jojojo said:
It's very early days for women's football in Europe as a pro or even a semi-pro game. The significance of the salaries now are that they actually allow women in the English and French leagues to become fulltime players. With the Lyon move Alex may be earning something like £100k/year (including her £25k retainer from the England squad, her Lyon salary and sponsorships). Enough to make it a good job, rather than a hobby or a parttime vocation.

In general, wages in WSL1 are somewhere between 20k/year and 50k/year for first team regulars - with a salary cap for each club. They're trying to balance the survival/sustainability of the teams against the need to create an environment where players are able to play/train as fulltimers and the next generation of youth team players can actually imagine making a living from football.

Casey Stoney was on the radio today, talking about her career. Back when she was winning titles with Arsenal she was paying to play - not just paying for her own kit but also paying a subscription to cover referee fees, travel costs etc. Things have changed a lot, and Lyon are really at the forefront of the change at the pro level, which is why it's understandable that Alex Greenwood would want to see it in action.
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Personally think an institution like Manchester United should take this one as a loss leader. Women's football doesn't particularly enthrall me but United's in it now, and knowing United's position and holding in the game, it reflects poorly on them when a pro footballer and all the problems that come with it (foregoing other revenue streams, physical toll, opportunity cost) are not rewarded appropriately. The women's team players put a bigger shift in than the men's team.
 
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