Mason Mount is Chelsea’s most important player at just 22
Less than two years into his senior Chelsea career and surrounded by attacking players collectively bought for hundreds of millions, Mason Mount has emerged as the club’s most important player.
Critics poked fun at Mount under former manager Frank Lampard, suggesting he was some sort of ‘teacher’s pet’ who was disproportionately favoured. But aside from being dropped for Thomas Tuchel’s first game in charge, the 22-year-old has started every Premier League fixture since.
Mount did his time on loan at Vitesse Arnhem and then Derby County to get into this position, but now has more Premier League minutes under his belt this season than any other Chelsea player. In fact, he has played 200 minutes more – the equivalent of two whole extra games, and then some – than the next most used outfield player, which is German forward Timo Werner.
If his usage wasn’t based on merit, it would have changed permanently when Tuchel took over. The fact it didn’t, with Werner actually more of a casualty so far, only underlines his quality.
WhoScored statistics rate Mount as Chelsea’s best player in the Premier League so far in 2020/21 at 7.35. The same website has rated him best in four separate games, double that of anyone else, while he also leads the club in average key passes per game at 2.5.
Mount is still very much a developing player and his best is yet to come. But it is important for Chelsea to have someone now they can build around in what is a new project – he is absolutely that person. That he is home-grown, a Chelsea player since the age of six, is also a plus for fans. continue reading