Mason Mount has officially joined Manchester United, and his 18-year career with the Blues came to an end. The transfer fee was reported to be £55+5M, of which the £5M bonus was described as "very difficult to achieve", so the final payment should be £55M, which is exactly the average of Manchester United's original offer of £40M and Chelsea's original price of £70M.
Mason Mount is a youth product with zero residual value on the books, so the £55M income is all counted as FFP profit. Looking at the FFP at the time of the buyer, it is not fully credited, but will be amortized on an annual basis according to the contract term, so the book profit of £55M can theoretically be "moved" for a long time in the transfer market. Unless Todd Burley wants to run away and buy 40 people, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley bother tying your boss to a chair thank you...
Mason Mount has always been a controversial player. It's not that there's anything wrong with his appearance on the field or appearance, but the role of many new generation players on the field is difficult to see with the naked eye in traditional eyes, especially in Mason Mount, after all, the average fan will not pay attention to watching the player's running without the ball. In the case that many people can't understand where Mason Mount is strong, the name of the proud protégé and "own son" naturally disappears. Therefore, to discuss Mason Mount's transfer in a comprehensive way, the first thing to do is to revisit and reorganize his role on the field.
It is a bit arrogant to say that there is a so-called "intellectual threshold" or "reading threshold" to understand Mason Mount's role, but the "anti-Mason Mount Party" everywhere actually proves that Mason Mount's role is difficult to explain in three words. Anyway, the editor did his best.
Let's start with the offense. A picture of Mason Mount in his attacking stats since joining Chelsea's first team has circulated online, ranking first in all terms of playing time to goals and assists. But frankly, with 27 goals and 22 assists in 129 appearances, and an average of 0.38 G+A per game, it is not a number of first-class attackers. This figure is also in line with Mason Mount's position in the Chelsea squad and on the pitch, where he is best suited to be a backup attacker in attack rather than a core player.
Mason Mount's biggest selling point is his ability to move/timing/make decisions. Similar to Kay Havertz analysed earlier, Mason Mount's ball intelligence and ability to move around allows him to be in the right place at the right time, as well as have enough technical and physical resistance to provide the most needed assistance to his attacking teammates. Continuous short passes to penetrate opponents, one-two into the box after hitting a wall, pulling empty moves as a backup attacker, and taking advantage of the gap in the shot to score - these are the tasks that Mason Mount can do when attacking. Another strength of Mason Mount is that, in addition to being necessary in every offense, these jobs do not have to be specific in order to be effective. The attack starts from the middle to pull the side and cut in, and the attack starts from the wing to seek penetration opportunities in the middle, which also makes it easy for Mason Mount to find opportunities in different systems.
But as mentioned earlier, Mason Mount is positioned as a backup attacker, not an offensive core with its own system. His offensive contribution comes from sublimating the existing tactical system, using his versatility to make tactics run more smoothly, but he is not a player who is good at solving problems single-handedly with his individual ability. He can bring goals and assists, or he can pull to get goals and assists for his teammates, provided the offensive system allows him to cut to the best place for the goal/final pass, or create a situation where his pull can give other teammates an advantageous position.
I have seen some media describe Mason Mount as having a certain ability to "score goals from behind" and can share a certain amount of scoring responsibility for the team. Strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong, but it may be different from the commonly understood definitions of "goal" and "post". In terms of scoring ability alone, Mason Mount's shooting skills are among the upper middle level among Premier League midfielders. It's not very fanciful, but it's basically reliable. But if "goal-scoring ability" and "goal-scoring responsibility" need to include creating enough space to shoot, and completing both receiving and shooting, which is equivalent to replacing the function of a striker or auxiliary forward, Mason Mount is not the right person. As for the back up, compared to Gundogan and Granit Xhaka's type of back-up grabbing points and scoring consistently, Mason Mount's "back-up" is closer to assisting the organization from the midfield, and after the overall offensive formation is pressed up, Mason Mount simply stays in the opponent's penalty area without going back, and as mentioned above, looks for opportunities to cut into the shot or pass during the infiltration process.
Compared with Mason Mount's upper-mid-level offensive statistics, Mason Mount is most eye-catching for his contributions on the defensive end. In modern football, which increasingly emphasizes running and pressing without the ball, Mason Mount is one of the best in terms of interference and impact on opponents caused by his running compared to other attacking players in the Premier League. Mason Mount will initially be able to establish himself in the Chelsea squad, largely because of his personal pressing ability and his familiarity with Frank Lampard's pressing system. He is good at detecting the opponent's traps, and he is also good at setting traps in the opponent's half as the first point of the trap. After all, pressing is not just about running, the choice of route and timing is more important, and Mason Mount's interference in the opponent's second-half playmaking is the best weapon to restrain the current build up from the back mainstream.
It's not the superficial interception stats, at least not in Mason Mount's area of responsibility, and his success in intercepting in the opponent's half only means that the opponent has made a serious mistake. Again, without deliberately observing running off the ball, it's hard to see Mason Mount's contribution on the defensive end. But if you don't look at it, Mason Mount's benefits do exist. To think in another direction, just watch a game with Mason Mount first, then watch a game without Mason Mount, and then compare and find that the latter's full team play is often far less fluent than the former, you can find out where Mason Mount plays. Similar to Jorginho, he usually plays a "remarkable" role, but once he is out, he knows how much the team needs him.
The versatility of both offensive and defensive roles, the characteristics of players who can be played regardless of position, and the main functions are just a necessity in today's mainstream football, which adds up to why Mason Mount has played for managers who value him so much. As Athletic's Carl Anka said, Mason Mount won't raise the team's ceiling, but he will. With him present, the team's performance is not much worse. But after all, he is the best cog, not the engine around which a machine can be built.
What the? Do you still think Mason Mount is just a worthless "own son"? You must have a more unique vision than Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Porter, Southgate and Eric Tenhach, and the coaching staff behind the five are not as good as you. You are awesome.
As is customary, what follows is a discussion of what role Mason Mount is suitable for in the new club. But to be honest, the editor has not yet figured out what medicine is sold in Eric Tenhakh's gourd. At least until Manchester United's formation this summer is complete and the tactics of the coming season have taken shape, it will be difficult to conclude what role Mason Mount should play.
Eric Tenhach managed to put together a set of tactics last season after early season exploration and mid-season reinforcements, but the system can be seen to be only barely taking shape. The midfield combination of Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and B Fei is indispensable, the pull of Walter Westhorst is only a transitional solution, Rashford can only limit the team's attack, and the forward selection has been hesitant. Last season's Manchester United were clearly not complete, and the successive defeats at the beginning of the season in the early run-in may have been closer to Eric Tenhach's ideal shape, but compromised due to practical constraints.
As said before, Mason Mount is not a player with his own system. The editor will find it difficult to judge Mason Mount's future at Manchester United, on the one hand, because he feels that Manchester United's tactics will definitely be greatly changed, and it is of little significance to speculate on Mason Mount's role using last season's ideas. On the other hand, Mason Mount is no match for anyone in last season's best squad, and unless he is bought back for £55M as a substitute, his tactical system will need to be adjusted to make good use. Moreover, considering that United's squad is still flawed, dealing with those gaps should be higher than buying Mason Mount, and the system can be put in place.
The most likely move on the deck is to replace Christian Eriksen, who has slipped after his comeback, with Mason Mount. Mason Mount certainly doesn't have as much creativity and organisational ability as Christian Eriksen, but he must also run without the ball more than Christian Eriksen. Creativity can be compensated to some extent by more efficient pressing, but the lack of passers in the midfield will eventually be problematic, and Eric Tenhach may need to make a trade-off between the two. B fee? It has been a long time since he was classified as a midfielder, and the editor directly regarded him as a secondary striker. His high-risk, high-reward passes and shots are not bad, they just have little to do with helping to organize and order the midfield.
Another personal conjecture is to replace Anthony with Mason Mount. Anthony is often teased as a "spinning top" and a "compass", but there is no denying that he is United's first authentic right-winger in a long time. His attacking is a headache, but without the threat he poses from his corresponding position on the right flank, the overall operation of Manchester United will be more problematic, and to some extent he can ensure the team's "floor". Considering Mason Mount's versatility, the flanking power of a traditional winger is not needed on the right wing, and the right-back and midfielder can cooperate to ensure the team's wide range of games, Mason Mount can theoretically be placed in the position of the "right wing", more precisely responsible for the tandem and pressing on the right side of the team.
Of course, everything is still subject to the arrangement after the start of the season. It is obvious why Eric Tenhach favored Mason Mount, but there is still too little information known about how to use him.
To explain the cause and effect of this transfer, we have to talk about the "turmoil" in which Mason Mount negotiated a contract extension with the team in the past year. Unlike the relatively transparent transfer news, the truth of the renewal process has always been confusing. Today's most credible journalists often have informants within the team, and the team also has incentives to pass on information related to the inside story of the transfer, so the high-credibility reports that circulate are usually the information provided by the team. But contract extension negotiations are different, and it is easy for teams and players to disagree, especially when the talks are broken, and both sides tend to spread the favorable version of the story through familiar journalists. Not to mention all sorts of messy gossip. Therefore, the following is a compilation of information from all parties, plus a certain personal speculation, the comprehensive incident history, it is impossible to be 100% consistent with the truth. But anyway, Mason Mount has left the team, everyone will just take a look.
Initial rumours began to be made between Chelsea and the player in talks about a contract extension at the start of last season. In the previous 21/22 season, the team was changing hands, and the players themselves were happy to start discussing a contract extension when they were in a "vantage position" with two years left on their contract, so it was normal for 22/23 to start talking about a contract extension. Teammate Reece James announced a six-year contract extension with a weekly salary of £250k in early September 2022, with a floating clause that can be raised to more than £300k. Considering that Todd Burley began to say that he was actively discussing a contract extension with Mason Mount, and frequently compared Mason Mount and Reece James as the future leaders of the youth team, it is reasonable to infer that Mason Mount's expected salary should be on par with Reece James. But there were two events during the contract renewal that could affect the negotiation process: a shift in the team's business mindset and a decline in player form and performance.
Let's start with the former. Todd Burley's frantic buying of last summer's temporary sporting director is still talked about by non-Chelsea fans and has not been soft on negotiating weekly salaries. Raheem Sterling would have received £300k a week at Manchester City, and "nominally" added to £310k is fine. But Calidu Koulibaly's £290k, Obama's £160k, and even Carney Cukuemeka's £100k have pulled up Chelsea's overall salary line. By the winter transfer window, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, although not yet on their seats, sensed that this salary expense could not be sustained, and although the cost of buying people in the winter was high, the negotiation of player contracts was much more rational. Enzo Fernandez earns just over £150k a week, and Mihailo Mudrek earns less than £100k a week, with an additional performance-based salary increase. The practical impact of the new measures can be discussed separately, but at least it is certain that Todd Burley may be happy to offer a £250k a week, but the two co-sporting directors are less impulsive.
Let's talk about the latter. As Chelsea's player who has played the most games and minutes in the past four years, Mason Mount has actually been in "overwork" for the past few seasons. After absorbing the aftermath of the pandemic in the 21/22 season and playing almost every game he could play in a season (two Home Cup finals, Club World Cup, and Champions League semi-finals), and then compressing the 21/22 and 22/23 schedules in order to accommodate the Winter World Cup, Mason Mount was too late to delay his 22/23 performance. Mason Mount's role has never been focused on pursuing G+A, but it can still be seen that whether it is data or visual on-field performance, the 22/23 Mason Mount has declined compared to before, and the second half of the season has been intermittently injured for more than two months, which is unprecedented. Coupled with the turmoil on and off the field last season, it is clearly not an environment for Mason Mount to adjust to his form. UNDER THE TRADE-OFF, MASON MOUNT WENT FROM BEING A POTTY FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS TO A GUEST ON THE TEAM.
The more solid information is that the team made a verbal offer of £200k a week to Mason Mount around the World Cup, with a contract period of more than five years. Mason Mount felt that the weekly salary figures and the treatment of portrait rights were not what he had hoped and that the term was too long, so there was no consensus on the oral agreement. After that, due to Mason Mount's performance decline, Felix and Mason Mount "overlapped" and were more suitable for the team's offensive needs, and considering Nkunku's imminent investment, the team and players have not been able to develop further on the extension, and there were rumors of a breakdown in the relationship between the two sides. There was news of the resumption of dialogue at the end of the season, but it was too late, and Mason Mount's willingness to leave was quite determined. After negotiating a personal term of £250k a week salary with Manchester United in early June, negotiations between the buyer and seller began.