Mason Mount reveling in Frank Lampard’s challenges, instruction

Following a stellar first season in professional football with Vitesse last year, Chelsea loanee Mason Mount is having an excellent start to his second season in professional football, this time at Derby County.

Having played all but 15 minutes of Derby’s 15 matches in all competitions so far, Mason has 5 goals to his name already and has been earning plaudits left, right, and center. He’s even managed to leverage all that into a call-up to the national team, which is doubly impressive as he’s still just a teenager playing second division football.

This isn’t the first time Mount gets to train with the senior squad under Gareth Southgate, but it is his first official call-up. Back in the summer, prior to the World Cup, he was one of just four young players selected to join training camp for a week, an experience that’s proving helpful in adjusting to the “real” thing.

“One hundred per cent, coming in before the World Cup, training for four days, it made me hungrier to get into the squad.

“...it is a step up, but when I get on the pitch I try to play my football and to be tactically and mentally ready.”

Should he make his unlikely debut in the upcoming Nations League games against Croatia and Spain, Mount will be one step closer to completing the challenge laid out for him by his idol, current club coach, and Chelsea legend Frank Lampard.

“He’s obviously got over 100 caps so he said to see if I can break that. It was the first thing he said to me.

“He’s given me loads of advice so far and I’m just trying to take it all in. It’s a long season so I’m going to learn so much off him. For me personally, learning off someone that’s done so well in the game, as a midfielder I can learn so much off him and I have done so far.”

-Mason Mount; source: PA via BT Sport

Frank Lampard finished his England career with 106 goals and 30 goals. Well, 29, if you want to be technical about it. There was also the goal he scored against Germany but wasn’t actually given and instead turned into goal-line technology. Those numbers are right in line with his career average for scoring goals at club level as well (274 in 913).

So far, Mount is also trending along exactly at 1-in-3 (13 in 39 for Vitesse, 5 in 15). Lampard was of course much more than just a goalscorer, but if Mason can pick up some of those qualities as well, he might just have a shot at breaking Lampard’s England record — hopefully in a Chelsea shirt, even.