“I love it when a plan comes together,” Mason Mount may once have said about something. Perhaps his successful stint as Chelsea’s poster boy, possibly when signing his contract at Manchester United. But barely at any point this season would those words have rung true for United’s woebegone number 7.
False dawn
True, he started the first three games of a season which was supposed to be Ruben Amorim’s redemption, the theoretical pay-off of all the suffering up to that point. The hard-running Mount was meant to be one of the key pressing machines in a stronger, leaner United side, a terrier with a goal threat lurking in one of the number 10 roles.
But just as the wheels came off the Portuguese’s project, so too did the 27-year-old gradually, inevitably, fade from view. His purple patch amounted to two goals in three games in the run-up to Christmas. Then came the team’s general fall-off, eight games missed through injury and an absolute failure to get into Michael Carrick’s notoriously tight-knit starting lineup.
There’s always next season
The interim head coach has so far given Mount less than half an hour of playing time, during which his biggest contribution has been a booking in the battling victory at his former club. He featured for nine minutes.
It’s not a pretty picture for the £60m man, but there remains one last chance to turn around his desperately underwhelming United tenure next season. Much has been made of United’s embarrassingly slim fixture list, which has allowed Carrick to settle on his preferred starting lineup and deviate more through necessity than tactical creativity.
Next season the Red Devils must fight on all fronts, and they will need the squad depth to cope with playing twice a week for as long as possible. Mount may seem a distant figure at present, but his energy and creativity make him a useful player to have on the bench, and one not out of place on the pitch in a way that, say, Joshua Zirkzee seems.
Or maybe there isn’t
Carrick may not have stamped a rigid identity on his teams in the way his predecessor did, but his preferences are pretty clear in terms of personnel and positions. That Mount’s name remains far from the team sheet is apparent, but how he would even fit into a Carrick lineup – should he still be calling the shots next season – is not so obvious.
Not a natural winger, not a solution to the midfield chasm and not likely to depose Bruno Fernandes at number 10 – where the likes of Matheus Cunha are also poised ready to deputise – he may find himself glued to the bench while teammates revolve around him, even as the fixtures pile up.
This is hardly likely to appeal to a player clearly of Premier League quality, and should recruitment and tactics indicate that his chances will not increase then a summer departure becomes possible.
Possible exit
It’s an unsatisfactory outcome to consider, another big-money marquee signing falling victim to the curse of United’s number 7 shirt. In fits and bursts Mount has shown his worth with craft on the ball and industry off it.
But the Red Devils are determined to shop in England’s top division, where potential suitors for Mount could surely be found. A world in which he is used as a makeweight in a deal for Morgan Rogers exists, as does one where he finds himself at Newcastle while Sandro Tonali travels south.
Transfers are rarely that straightforward – any departure would more than likely be a straight sale, which could also transform the summer window. But as understudy or option next season, or a saleable asset in the coming months, United’s eternal misfit is approaching his last chance to contribute to the club.
Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images
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