On June 7th 2019, Eden Hazard uploaded a statement onto his Instagram which confirmed all Chelsea fan’s worst fears. After seven years at the club, he had done his last dance in South West London.
A transfer ban, their best player leaving and a squad which was the amalgamation of several former manager’s wishes, it wasn’t looking like a good time to be a Chelsea fan. But then, along came Frank Lampard and things didn’t seem so bad. Whilst Chelsea would be unable to go to the transfer market for new additions, there was at least the opportunity for them make use of their famous youth academy. For years, the talent from this had gone to waste, other than the odd boost to Chelsea’s financial statements.
By the time August 18th came around for Chelsea’s first home game of the season, spirits in the club were high once more. In fact, it took just seven minutes for Chelsea to open the scoring. It was the academy lad, Mason Mount. And thus an everlasting love affair between the Stamford Bridge faithful and their newest home grown star began.
For years, despite winning all there was to be won, Chelsea fans did have an oh so slight gripe with the way the club was run. Whilst it was great to be winning nearly every trophy under the sun, one area that had seemingly taken a back seat was the progression path from the youth academy to the first team. Under Lampard, there were no such barriers in place.
For the past five and a half years, Chelsea fans have had the joy of following Mason Mount’s progression from Vitesse Player of the Year to a two time Chelsea Player of the Year.
It’s hard to pick a favourite Mason Mount moment. There have been so many.
His first hattrick against Norwich.
Starting our great comeback in the Santiago Bernabéu.
His goal against Real Madrid which sent us to the Champions League Final.
Bossing the San Siro.
But of course, it has to be his exceptional ball to Kai Havertz which proved the decider in winning our second Champions League trophy.
Writing this now, it seems truly inconceivable to me where there would ever be a situation in which this wonderful player isn’t being allowed to leave the club under any circumstances, yet here we are.
Rumours are bubbling like never before and it’s Liverpool who now seem drawn to Mount like a shark to blood. With Mount appointing a new agent in Neil Fewings over his dad, it seems more like than ever that his future may lie away from Stamford Bridge after this summer.
Mason Mount has not had his best season in Chelsea blue. Am I surprised? Not particularly. I think we’re finally seeing the effects of what playing 50 games a season for the past five years does to a player. Particularly in Mount’s role and as such a high energy player, it’s little surprise that he’s hit a bit of a speed bump in his development.
In those five and a half years, he’s played under four different managers and more recently, rarely in his favoured position. Of course, he’s more than capable of filling in on the wings, but it’s in the middle of the park where he is perhaps best utilised and I think it’s criminal we’ve not seem him feature there more even more so now we have Enzo Fernández in the side.
So, why is he leaving?
In all honesty, it’s not entirely clear. But it’s fairly likely that the issue lies in the contract which was proposed to him earlier in the season. I don’t believe this is even a money issue, I just do not think Mount wants to sign a contract which would tie him to the club for eight years.
I can’t say I blame him. We’re obviously doing this to tie down our best players for as long as physically possible, but what it does do is take a huge amount of power away from the player in terms of how they control their destiny. You only have to look at Harry Kane at Tottenham who signed a huge six-year contract back in 2018 which later prevented him moving to Manchester City. This Mount contract would be signed at a similar age but be two whole years longer.
I’m of the opinion that he’s done enough to write whatever he wants on his contract and sign as he pleases. After all, it’s not like our wage structure is particularly controlled in some of the more recent spending.
It’s all well and good saying Mason Mount is “Chelsea til he dies” and what not. But, the reality is that he comes from Portsmouth and whilst I do not doubt for once second that he absolutely loves the club, it is slightly different to someone like Reece James who has lived in London his whole life.
Furthermore, Chelsea have been spending money for fun. It’s difficult to see where Mount might even fit in to a new look Chelsea side with new players in competing roles arriving left, right and centre. Mount will feel that he’s shown enough in the past few seasons to be more than deserving of a place in the side but on current form he isn’t. It’s so crucial that recency bias isn’t taken too far into account when looking at Mount’s time at Chelsea because the player we’ve seen in the last six months is a shadow of the one we had for the preceding 36.
With it looking seemingly impossible for us to quality for Champions League football next season barring either a miracle in the Premier League or knocking out some of Europe’s best sides in the Champions League itself, Chelsea will need to find a way to balance the books come summer to continue their rebuild. Mount is unique. Having come up through the Chelsea youth academy he is effectively an accountants wet dream as far as Financial Fair Play is concerned. Indeed, the sale of Mount alone for a fee upwards of £50 million would be enough to offset the majority of Chelsea’s initial January spending.
I really hope we can find some kind of resolution as far as Mason Mount is concerned. When you look at players like Mount, you can’t help but see a bit of yourself. Here is a player who has had to work so hard to get where he is and for him to lose faith in the current process at Chelsea would be such a blow to all who have supported him these last few years. Whilst he looks set to miss the next couple of weeks, it’s so important that he knows just how appreciated he is at Chelsea next time he sets foot onto the Stamford Bridge turf.
Whilst we don’t know how the next few months will play out, Mason Mount will always hold a special place in the heart of any true Chelsea fan.
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