Greenwood: It means the world to me

Greenwood was the clear favourite in the fans’ poll, claiming 66 per cent of the vote after scoring in each of our opening three Premier League games, against Leeds United, Southampton and Wolves.

Mason is pleased with the way he has hit the ground running, especially as he had to wait until December to get off the mark in the league in 2020/21.

“Yeah, it’s been a good start obviously,” Mason told club media.

“Three games and three goals, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve been wanting to score goals from the start.

“I had a bit of a slow start last season but hopefully I can kick on.”

Greenwood opened his account for 2021/22 with an accomplished finish in front of the Stretford End, during the opening-weekend victory over Leeds.

And our no.11 counts that as his favourite strike of the season so far, due to it occurring at a full-capacity Old Trafford.

“Probably the Leeds one [stands out most], to be fair, back at Old Trafford. It was amazing. The fans were going crazy, so that one is special to me.

“It makes [winning the award] a little bit more special for the fans voting for me,” he continued, on the theme of our brilliant supporters.

“I’d like to thank all of them and it means the world to me to win this award and, hopefully, we can kick on as a team and get some more wins.”

Mason is sure to be looking forward to learning from the returning Cristiano Ronaldo, a player Sir Alex Ferguson famously used to set goal targets when he was a similar age.

That kind of tactic isn’t something Mason goes for though, as the 19-year-old admits he just likes to think of finding the net as a by-product of playing his natural game.

“No, I don’t like to think about it. I don’t like to think about scoring really, I just like to go out in the game, feel relaxed and if I score, I score.

“It makes me happy but I don’t like to think about it sometimes.”