Mason Mount leaving Chelsea not set in stone, insists Frank Lampard

Getting Mason Mount signed to a new long-term contract was among the highest of high priorities last year when Chelsea’s new ownership came in.

Unfortunately, that’s one campaign promise on which they’ve yet to deliver, with Mount increasingly looking likely to be leaving this summer. He does have one more year left on his current deal, but if we cannot get him to agree an extension, a transfer fee could be maximized with a Premier League rival.

But interim head coach Frank Lampard, who gave Mount his senior Chelsea debut nearly four years and 200 appearances ago, doesn’t think the outcome is set in stone yet. Conversations are ongoing between player and club, and as long as that’s the case, there’s always hope.

“It’s a conversation between Mason and the club, so I don’t know. It’s not final at this point and we’ll have to see because those conversations are ongoing.

“It’s a shame for me personally because I think everyone knows how I feel about working with Mason and I like to think he feels the same about me and we could have done with him in the games we’ve played already this season. But the bigger picture is something that’s going to become clearer in the next weeks and months, and that will be the club and Mason together having conversations.”

One would have to think that the bigger picture would also show Mount returning to the level of performances we had seen from him for much of those four years. It’s been a subpar season for many, but form is temporary and class is permanent, right?

“You can very quickly forget the consistency that Mason’s shown in the period since he’d broken through [and then] forget how young he is because he’s so mature as a player that all his managers have trusted him so much.

“So I think if there was a drop in form, it’s more than understandable and I think every player has it, especially in the developing years. But there’s no doubt Mason is a top-class player and what he brings the team in and out of possession. Form will always waver slightly but the top players manage to gain great consistency and he’s been Chelsea Player of the Year in a couple of seasons with a lot of top players around him...”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

Still time to work this out!