Liverpool are closely monitoring Mason Mount’s developing contract situation at Chelsea and could make a swoop for the Premier League gem later this year…
What’s the latest on Mount to Liverpool?
According to ESPN, the Reds will rival Manchester City and Manchester United for the 24-year-old Englishman, who is out of contract at the end of next season.
Jurgen Klopp’s team have fallen by the wayside this season, with their midfield problems having been well-documented, and Mount could provide the requisite skill set to reinvigorate that area of the pitch.
This follows earlier claims dating back to November that the Chelsea star has been on Liverpool’s radar, and a more concrete proposition could materialise over the coming months if Mount and the Blues remain polarised in their respective stances on his future.
Could Mount be Klopp’s next Gundogan?
Rated at £70m by CIES Football Observatory, Mount has been an integral cog in the Chelsea squad since his emergence from the Cobham Youth Academy and after thriving in subsequent loan spells at Vitesse Arnhem and Derby County.
Having made 190 appearances for the west London outfit, scoring 33 goals and providing 37 assists, Mount has indeed become one of the most dependable central forces in England, winning the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with the Blues.
He has featured 30 times during the current campaign, scoring three goals and supplying six assists, although he was dropped for the previous Premier League match against West Ham United amid concerns over his “poor” form, according to one sport writer.
Under Graham Potter, Chelsea are struggling for form and have won just three games from the past 15 across all competitions, despite having spent more than £550m in the past year under new owner Todd Boehly.
While Mount is perhaps an epitome of the Blues’ recent woes, he is a player with “world-class” credentials – as previously dubbed by Sam Inkersole – and could still be nurtured into achieving his full potential.
With a move to Liverpool, Klopp could unleash his next Ilkay Gundogan, with the 32-year-old Manchester City phenomenon working his way into prominence under the German manager at Borussia Dortmund many years ago.
Indeed, Klopp signed Gundogan from Nurnberg for €4m (£3.5m) in 2011 and he would go on to make 157 appearances at Signal Iduna Park, winning the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal in his first season at the club.
Both players possess the technical prowess that Klopp craves when moulding talent at his disposal with his own clay.
With Mount ranking among the top 6% of midfielders for rate of non-penalty goals in Europe’s five main leagues, compared to the top 7% for his German counterpart, and both players likened to Kevin De Bruyne by FBref’s ‘similar players’ segment, the Reds’ manager could already have the perfect blueprint to get the very best out of Mount.
Mount is a robust, energetic and dynamic midfielder, and he embodies the qualities desired by Klopp as the 55-year-old looks to revitalise his once-unrelenting Liverpool side.
If Chelsea do fail to tie down the £76k-per-week midfielder to a new long-term deal, the German could have his next ‘world-class’ component to get the Anfield machine whirring at its former high-octane intensity once again.