Mason Greenwood marked his first match in 2025 with yet another impact for Marseille. A second-half assist as part of a 5-1 rout of Le Havre leaves Roberto De Zerbi's side clear in second place behind Paris Saint-Germain.

The gap to the top is still seven points at the midway point of the season but for Greenwood, it has been a terrific one so far. He has 10 goals in Ligue 1 - 11 in all competitions - as well as three assists now. It is already his most productive as a senior player in a single league campaign.

For Manchester United, who sold him for £25.6million over the summer, it is in their best interests that Greenwood continues to succeed. Although there is a constant PR tangle with the player after he was nearly reintegrated into the first-team setup following his loan at Getafe, and the backlash which came with it, there are financials involved.

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Greenwood, a United academy graduate, is now at his first professional side away from Old Trafford permanently. It comes after a strong year in Spain on loan at Getafe.

Now, though, United may well be keeping a close eye on Greenwood even more so than before. With a sizeable sell-on clause - reported elsewhere to be close to 50% - the better Greenwood gets on, and the higher his value rises, the more United stand to gain.

At a time when money is at a premium for the club, and January activity is set to be stripped back entirely even though changes are needed to Ruben Amorim's squad, any sort of potential cash windfall from Greenwood would be huge. It was suggested in December that his performances had started to attract interest from Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid. Juventus have also been linked.

Should any of this bring about action, United will already expect a huge return. According to crowd-sourced football data site, Transfermarkt, his value is now the second highest it has ever been. Following on from the enormous 2021 drop off when he didn't play, Greenwood's expected price has risen.

Before joining Marseille it was back up to just over £20million, around the same as it had been when he broke into the United side as an 18-year-old prodigy. That has only continued to shoot up since the switch to France. It is now estimated that he is worth £30million, which is already more than United sold him for.

If a deal at that price was to happen, it could result in a further £15million windfall going back to United. CIES Football Observatory rates him as being worth even more.

Their current peak is at £45million. The fact that Greenwood is also on the up would indicate that when Marseille do get bids, United can expect a healthy return themselves.