It would be an understatement to say that the youth at Chelsea are living their dream ever since Frank Lampard took over at the Bridge. Even more wonderful has been the fact that the youth have been repaying Lampard’s trust, and are continuing to improve as well.
Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and more recently, Fikayo Tomori, have nailed down their places in the starting eleven — on merit! — while Reece James and Hudson-Odoi are gradually getting ready to roar back from their injuries.
In an extensive interview with Sky Sports, Mount reflects on this previously practically unimaginable situation.
“You want to give that extra mile for [Lampard]. Mentally you’ve got to be ready. It’s a big step and just because you’re a young player doing well it doesn’t mean you’re going to be ready for the first team. You’ve got to show the manager that you’re ready.
“You hear all this stuff about there is not going to be another academy player coming through, but now look at it. There are numerous players coming through. Now it has happened I’m focused on working hard and playing as many games as I can.”
All of these homegrown youngsters have been at Chelsea since an early age — Mount runs through each one of them later in the interview, which can be seen in the video at the bottom — and many of them have played together, and won together, for a long time as they worked their way up the age groups. As familiar as that felling may be however, it’s also all a bit surreal to have made it together to the first-team.
“It’s been a crazy first couple of months. Sometimes it’s quite strange on the training pitch or playing games looking across and seeing someone you’ve played with for so many years. Hopefully this year we can try to win a trophy and build on that in the next couple of years.”
Regular gametime and mature performances at Chelsea have helped Mount break in into the England squad where Tomori and Tammy will join him as well! Not one to take these chances for granted, Mount is targeting silverware with the national team as well.
“I definitely think we can achieve big things. If that is Euros or World Cups you’ve always got to set the goal that high. Look at how well the players did at the World Cup. That’s a massive target for me, winning a big trophy for my country is a dream.”
- Mason Mount; source: Sky Sports
Onwards and upwards!