30 October 2023 , 13:18
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When Erik ten Hag posed alongside Mason Mount for pictures on the day the midfielder was unveiled as a Manchester United player, the head coach delivered a line for fans to lap up.
“I want you to be a very important player for this team,” Ten Hag said. Simple words, a simple message. And a reason for supporters to get excited. Mount was United’s first signing of the summer, coming off the back of a debut campaign for Ten Hag in which green shoots of recovery had appeared across Old Trafford.
Now, however, Mount is a flag bearer of United’s stalled progress. Both he and Ten Hag’s version of United are suffering from acute cases of arrested development. Mount appeared off the bench at half-time of Sunday’s derby humiliation chasing a lost cause in a position that he was never entirely comfortable executing during his four years in Chelsea’s first team.
Ten Hag believes he is better suited to sitting slightly deeper, allowing Bruno Fernandes to play in his preferred role, but his best performances at Chelsea came when he had the freedom to crash into the final third. He has always worked diligently off the ball but he is not naturally a defensive-minded player.
At his best, Mount brings the dynamism and pressing intensity that Ten Hag wants to define his team. The problem is he has not been near that level for almost a year. His most recent league goal came on December 27 and he last provided an assist in October of last year.
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He has been sidelined by a persistent pelvic injury and even if he was fit, the second half of last season at Chelsea was a nightmare environment. And not just because of a standoff around new contract terms, culminating in the club deciding the time had come to cut ties with a player who had joined not long out of nappies.
Only Mount and his inner circle will appreciate to what extent being in a new environment is taking a toll on him but, considering all he had known was Chelsea, it is easy to understand if the transition has been bumpy.
On current form Mount may not even be going to the European Championships in the summer, which shows how his stock has plummeted. Up until this time last year he was one of Gareth Southgate’s most dependable players, but at present he is not worthy of a spot on England’s bench.
So what’s the route back? Earning a starting spot in Ten Hag’s soft-centred team is the obvious starting point, but the fact he has been so peripheral in the past couple of weeks, allowing even Scott McTominay to jump the queue, indicates that he is not dazzling in training.
Confidence, then, seems to be an issue. Mount has proven he has the quality to define big games and ticks all the boxes for a modern, fluid midfielder. He just needs to rediscover what has been lost.
Mount’s malaise is not why United are in a deep rut. United’s failings are not why Mount is struggling to be his best self. But alongside each other there are similarities between a 24-year-old facing the biggest challenge of his career to date and a project that has seen its early promise fade to black.