Club messed it up if their plan was to re-integrate him. Should have made a statement right after the CPS dropped the charges - and before TheAthletic expose happened - saying that the internal investigation found him not guilty of w/e he was accused of - furthermore as no criminal charges were being pursued - and respecting the wishes of the victim - that the club would reintegrate him with close supervision along with tailored counselling/support for both him and the victim etc etc. Could have even had him move in with a mentor figure or to the club facilities for a while.
TheAthletic expose set the tone and the backlash never really abated.
Spot on. United should've gotten ahead of any media stories and simply and transparently made a statement as early as possible, which would've mitigated a lot of the media fueled narrative. They probably thought delaying would've been beneficial to keep the focus on other transfers and the US tour, but that was naive on their part.