Mason Mount has been signed to strengthen Man United’s midfield, but which particular role will he be used in this season?
It felt inevitable Mason Mount would be Manchester United’s first signing of the summer and the move was duly confirmed last week.
Erik ten Hagwanted Mount, the player was keen to swap Stamford Bridge for Old Trafford and Chelsea were willing sellers. The transfer made sense for all parties and the initial fee of £55million agreed represented ɾєɑȿօɴable market value.
Any avid social media users might have felt the Mount pursuit was a mini-transfer saga, but the Ԁєɑł was relatively straightforward, in truth, whereas last summer, talks for Frenkie de Jong were as complicated as cracking the Enigma code.
Football director John Murtough did his best to emulate Alan Turing in talks with Barcelona but his efforts were to no avail. De Jong was the one that got away, but Mount is considered by Ten Hag as a perfect alternative to the Dutchman.
Mount is a welcome addition and he should inject some much-needed energy into the midfield. The 24-year-old is yet to reach his prime years and he should continue to polish the key aspects of his game under the tutelage of Ten Hag.
Ten Hag has improved almost every player at the club in his first season in charge and coaxing improvement out of Mount is also expected. He’s already an England international and he’s got the potential to develop into a world-class operator.
The Cobham graduate has made his name playing as a No.10, a creative attacking midfielder with the ability to unlock defences, but it seems he’s actually been bɾօυɢҺt to Manchester to occupy a different role in the centre of the pitch.
Although the durable Bruno Fernandes has been used on the wings and in a deeper midfield position this season, he remains the club’s first-choice attacking midfielder and he’s set to start the majority of games in that role again.
The most settled midfield three last season consisted of Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Fernandes, and Mount looks like the natural successor for Eriksen, who looked increasingly short of legs at the business єɴԀ of the campaign.
Eriksen made 13 starts in thePremier Leaguein 2023 and he only played a full game once (Arsenal in January) in that run. He also played more than 80 minutes on just four occasions across the last six months in the league campaign.
Just like Mount, the 31-year-old made his name as a No.10 but he’s played deeper in a red shirt. Ten Hag clarified his role in September and said: ”We put him a little bit deeper on the pitch as he plays in a six and an eight role where he has lots of freedom.
”We tell him which spaces he has to be in but also he has to adapt to that. I think he can make a game for you, he can also switch the play when needed. If he sees the final pass between the lines he can do that and he can also jump into attack too.”
Considering Eriksen’s inability to press for an entire game, Mount is expected to start in that role instead next term and it will be interesting to see how he adapts to the new position, which is bound to invariably ask different questions of him.
United play Leeds in Oslo in their first friєɴԀly of pre-season on Wednesday and too much shouldn’t be read into where Mount plays in that game, as he’s one of two senior midfielders available and Fernandes is absent.
Mount and Fred are the experienced midfield heads and both should start. The lack of senior players means Mount is most likely to play as No.10, but it seems guaranteed he will be used in a No.6 deeper role in the other pre-season games.
It’s still possible Mount could start as a No.6 against Leeds and that would be a clear sign of which role he’ll permanently have.
Regardless of whether he does play that role in Oslo, that’s where he seems certain to be used for United in competitive games.
