Why does Mason Mount attract so much cynicism? John Nicholson is waiting for the Chelsea and England playmaker’s critics to feast on humble pie.
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Who’s this then?
Mason Tony Mount is a 23-year-old, 5ft 11in Portsmouth-born Chelsea and England midfielder. Despite his young age he has already racked up 267 club appearances, including over 50 in each of the last three seasons. Sometimes a divisive figure, there are those who just don’t get onboard the MM train, but there are others who see one of the best, most creative midfielders of his generation. He will almost certainly be picked for the England squad by Gareth Southgate and will likely start in their opening game against Iran.
His father was a non-league player and Mason showed early promise and he joined Chelsea at the age of just six, which does seem ridiculously young to be allied to any club. However, by the time he was in his teens, he was playing in the under age sides and doing well being part of the 2016-17 Under-18 Premier League winning team. He also won two FA Youth Cups, the UEFA Youth League, and was voted Chelsea Academy Player of the Year 2017.
When he was promoted to the first team aged 18, he was immediately loaned out to Dutch side Vitesse for a season along with another Chelsea kid Fankaty Dabo (who now plays for Coventry). It was a successful and developmental campaign. He played in 39 games and scored 14 times and was voted Vitesse’s Player Of The Year.
Returning to England for 2018-19, Frank Lampard took him on loan to Derby. Again, Mason impressed, turning out 44 times and scoring 11, despite having two months off with twanged hammy.
Lampard promptly fell ass backwards into the Chelsea job, just as MM was returning to base and thus gave him a new five-year contract and a chance in the first team.
Since that time he has played 178 games for the club scoring times and has become axiomatic to how Chelsea play, with Thomas Tuchel citing him as one of their most important players and one of the best in Europe. He won the Champions League with the Blues, which was rather nice, as was being voted Chelsea Player of the Year 2020-21 and again in 2021-22.
So while everything was coming up Mason at club level, he got his first full cap for England in 2019. He had played in all the under-age teams, had won the Under-19 Euros and was named ‘Golden Player’ of the tournament. He does win a lot of awards.
He was also part of…
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