Mount joining Man Utd brings five-year Ten Hag transfer pursuit full circle
Get into an argument about Mason Mount and you're always likely to hear this in his defence: "Every manager loves him!"
After all, it was only in April when Frank Lampard vowed: "You can ask myself, you can ask Thomas Tuchel, you can ask Gareth Southgate, you can ask Graham Potter. It's clear he's a top player and a top lad."
Now that Mount, 24, has completed an initial £55million transfer move to rivals Manchester United, Lampard best add Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag to that list. The average Premier League fan knows all about his qualities from watching him over four seasons in the English top flight, but Ten Hag's admiration for the highly-rated midfielder stretches back to when he was only a teenager.
In 2017, having just lifted the FA Youth Cup as captain and signed a four-year professional deal with boyhood club Chelsea, Mount was loaned out Vitesse Arnhem, the Dutch side who the Blues had forged a partnership with in order to blood their youngsters. Many failed to find their feet and are long forgotten, but not Mount.
After all, Ten Hag - who notably grew up and managed in Enschede, a city close to Arnhem - will find it hard to forget the first time that he faced Mount. In October of the 2017-18 season, while the current United manager was still in charge of Utrecht, the sight of a scrawny Englishman - with just one cameo appearance to his name so far - coming off the bench might not have initially fazed him.
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But when Mount only took two minutes to score a simple tap-in, immediately showing his eye for goal by being in the right place at the right time as a late runner, the on-loan Chelsea starlet made Ten Hag remember his name. Fast forward five months and Mount, with 18 more appearances - most of them starts and in his preferred central midfield position - under his belt, had established himself as one of the hottest properties in Dutch football when Ten Hag returned to Arnhem managing a new side, Ajax.
Mason Mount scored his first senior goal against Erik ten Hag's Utrecht (VI Images via Getty Images)Unbeaten since taking over in January, Vitesse pulled off a shock 3-2 win which their No.19 was instrumental to. Although he didn't register a goal or assist, Mount showed what he was all about with a dazzling all-round display, deployed in the centre of a midfield three.
A few neat touches around the Ajax penalty area in the first half served as warning signs for Ten Hag's team, as were his pinpoint corner balls, one of which eventually had to be cleared off the line. Vitesse took the lead after just 16 minutes, as winger Navarone Foor crashed in a superb strike from nearly 30 yards out.
Mount continued to torment the Dutch giants and could've had a penalty when he smartly manoeuvred into the box, going down under a light challenge from Ajax left-back Nicolas Tagliafico. His appeals were waved away but when half-time came, Mount was cool as a cucumber and seen chatting to team-mate Foor; discussing passing moves in a show of maturity and hint at the 'extreme intelligence' which United football director John Murtough lauded upon Wednesday's announcement.
Just like Vitesse as a team, Mount only grew more dangerous in the second half as the game began to open up. Hustling and bustling in midfield, the 19-year-old was central to various attacking sequences and pulled off a series of tidy touches, one of which left Ajax defender Joel Veltman - now of Brighton - humiliated and sent back to Amsterdam.
Mason Mount tormented Ajax during Vitesse's 3-2 victory in March 2018 (VI Images via Getty Images)As Mount controlled the ball under pressure in Ajax's half, Veltman attempted to prod it away mid-air, only for his opponent's third touch to take the ball in the opposite direction. Mount's lay-off afterwards wasn't so good, showing how he was still a rough diamond while learning his trade as a teenager.
Of course, to beat Ajax you can't just be good when it comes to attacking. On the defensive side of things, Mount put a real shift in, racking up five tackles as well as winning one aerial duel, and was confident in possession facing his own goal, with players pressing his back.
Vitesse's second goal, courtesy of striker Bryan Linssen, came from Ajax being too casual at the back but their third was made by Mount. Floating in a free-kick on the right flank from 40 yards out, he found centre-back Guram Kashia towering over his man and able to head the ball across to Linssen.
The Dutchman's volley on the stretch beat Andre Onana, potentially a future team-mate at United for Mount if Ten Hag gets his way, and made it 3-1 following a reply from Ajax earlier in the game. So, with Vitesse needing to cling on to three vital points, did manager Henk Fraser take the inexperienced Mount off? Nope.
Siem de Jong even made it 3-2 with five minutes to go but Fraser had taken Linssen off instead of Mount, showing just how much he trusted the youngster. When the full-time whistle blew, Ten Hag sulked off with a shake of the head after suffering his first defeat in charge of Ajax, but still made note of how impressed he was with Mount.
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It was obvious as soon as Mount began to earn regular starts that he was capable of playing at the elite level, and he even forced the man who assisted his first goal, Thomas Bruns, out of the starting XI - although the midfielder fully understood why. Bruns was quoted as saying by Goal : "The way in which Mason, for example, could put a ball behind the opponent's defence exactly in the path of a fellow player, it seems simple, but it is not.
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"With actions like that, he distinguished himself from the rest. At that time it was, of course, disappointing, but not entirely illogical in view of his development. He almost always came up with something brilliant and gradually made his mark on Vitesse."
Reflecting on his loan spell, Mount told the Independent in 2020: "Vitesse was a brilliant decision and a brilliant loan. To go out and learn about a different kind of football. It's different playing out there. I had to grow up so I learned a lot while I was out there.
"I am so grateful for what they did and for the player I have become now. It's not everyone's cup of tea. It won't suit everyone to go abroad at such a young age. I chose it. I was dedicated and focused out there. It was definitely right for me but for others it might not be."
That's because Mount, certainly according to his old coaches and team-mates, is a special kind of player. "Mason is going to reach the absolute top," former Vitesse winger Mitchell van Bergen remarked during their stint together, speaking to NOS. "In the Premier League, he will be a complete player and I see him eventually ending up at Barcelona or Real Madrid. I think he will fit there."
Mason Mount is officially a Manchester United player are completing his £60million transfer (Getty Images)Two months after his outstanding performance which helped down Ten Hag's men, Mount returned home to Chelsea and the Blues decided on another loan spell for their rising star ahead of the 2018-29 campaign. One of the clubs linked were, you guessed it, Ajax.
It was Chelsea legend and childhood hero Lampard who snapped him up, though, bringing Mount to Derby County for a season which was capped by reaching the Championship play-off final. Five years later - having also faced one another during clashes between Ajax and Chelsea in the Champions League - Ten Hag has finally got his hands on him, having held in-depth talks with Mount regarding his prospective role in the team as far back as the middle of May when Chelsea visited Old Trafford.
As part of their charm offensive, the Red Devils offered the Portsmouth-born playmaker their iconic No.7 shirt, signalling just how desperate they were to sign him. Mount, who was always keen on the move and made discussions over personal terms run smoothly, is relishing the opportunity, too. "Everyone can see that the club has made big steps forward under Erik ten Hag," he remarked, having snubbed interest from Premier League rivals Liverpool and Arsenal.
"Having met with the manager and discussed his plans, I couldn't be more excited for the seasons ahead, and am ready for the hard work expected here. I am hugely ambitious; I know how amazing it feels to win major trophies and what it takes to do it. I will be giving everything to experience that again at Manchester United."
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