3/1 To Win
Mason Mount became one of Frank Lampard’s first signings as the manager of Derby County on Tuesday as he arrived from Chelsea on a season-long loan deal.
The midfielder is set for his first season of senior football in England, after a hugely impressive 2017/18 season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem.
He scored 14 goals and recorded nine assists throughout the campaign, with the highlight coming when Mount scored his first career hat-trick in a 5-2 victory against ADO Den Haag in the UEFA Europa League play-off semi-final.
So, what will Mount bring to Pride Park?
Scouted Football profile the best young footballers in the world.
Since 2014, their writers have been analysing the best Under-23 talent that football has to offer, and this year they released the third edition of the Scouted Football Handbook.
114 in-depth profiles were produced on English talent such as Jordan Pickford, Ryan Sessegnon, Lewis Cook and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, as well as the likes of Real Madrid’s Theo Hernández and Dutch striker Justin Kluivert.
Jake Entwistle took an in-depth look into Mount’s style of play and the profile gives a fascinating insight into what the 19-year-old could add to Lampard’s midfield…
“As the current football narrative rues the extinction of the classic number 10, in Mason Mount, romanticists may have something to cling onto.
His technique is without a doubt his greatest strength: whether that be striking the ball - towards goal or to pick out a team-mate - or rather the manipulation of it at his feet, Mount’s mastery over the ball is striking. Consistently able to find the perfect weight of pass, or deliver pure and powerful strikes towards the opposition goal, it is no surprise to find that he is most dominant in the centre of midfield.
At the tip of a diamond, or the central figure behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1, Mount possesses all the traits of a typical number 10 and was deployed in the latter with the England U-19s in the summer of 2017. Each pass or shot oozes guile and grace and when given complete creative freedom, he is capable of slicing through opposition’s defences almost at will, marrying superb vision with flawless execution.
The most obvious example of his technical prowess, however, comes in the form of his crossing and set-piece delivery. Whether from dead-ball situations or finding himself slightly wider in open play, Mount creates most of his chances from these positions due to the power and accuracy he is able to manufacture. Unafraid of striking the ball with purpose, he is able to bend the ball to his will; generating an abundance of dip and swerve to produce deliveries near-impossible to defend. It should also be no surprise to hear that these skills also translate to his direct free-kick taking; a threat to opposition goalkeepers from a variety of distances and angles.
However, the midfielder also aligns himself with modern midfield trends, equally as capable of causing damage from deep rather as he is in the pockets of space around the box. Far from the quickest player to the naked eye, Mount’s supreme technical gifts allow him to carry the ball forward at deceptive speed. Armed with a quick step-over and heavy feint, the 19-year-old can seemingly breeze past players when necessary; allowing him to both carry himself and his team up the pitch and also burst into dangerous areas. Combine this with a tenacity and strength to brush off incoming challenges and it becomes clear that dribbling is yet another string to this particular midfielder’s very potent bow.
Whether as a throwback to the traditional number 10 or modelling himself in the number eight role that a certain Kevin De Bruyne mastered in the Premier League last season, Mount is a player that absolutely has the required traits to excel in either position. Such clean striking of the ball, excellent vision, composure and ball-carrying ability all combine to create the perfect midfield package. Throw in the fact the Mount can do it with either foot and it becomes impossible not to get excited.”
You can download the 2018 Edition of the Scouted Football Handbook for FREE here…
