MASON MOUNT
TEACHER’S PET?
WHO YOU CALLING
Adored by his bosses, loved on loan... but not everyone was convinced. Mason Mount has been forced to prove himself as more than just Frank Lampard’s favourite son – yet now, not even his harshest critics are crowing. FFT hears why...
Words Mark White Portraits Stuart Manley
Chelsea’s under-18s have just finished training ahead of their first FA Youth Cup match of the campaign against Cardiff. A gaggle of kids gather round their manager, Jody Morris: Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James, Tariq Lamptey and Mason Mount are there, hands on hips, listening intently. A trinket box of uncut gems.
Morris turns to Mount, his captain – but what follows isn’t something the midfielder has become accustomed to hearing. There’s no praise; instead, it’s an almighty rollicking. Chelsea had lifted the FA Youth Cup for three years on the trot, but their latest session just hadn’t been good enough for Morris’ liking. He needed much more from his skipper if the young Blues were going to make it four. So much for being a coach’s favourite.
“It was almost setting a tone that if I was going to pick on the best player and dig him out, the others had better make sure they all pulled their socks up,” Morris recalls to FourFourTwo of his surprise outburst. “But it was also a reminder to Mason: I expected more from him. He always led by example with what a great attitude he had, and what a great lad he was. But I wanted to make him demanding of others, too.”
Being the best player simply wasn’t good enough for Mount any more. The Portsmouth native had always stood out – at 14 years old, he would be the only one in Chelsea’s youth team to wear his own shirt to training, since the club’s were too big for him. Still, he would run rings around the other kids with No.26 on his back – John Terry’s number – and though any coach who watched him at that age fell head over heels for Mount’s technical ability, there was doubt over how he would grow physically.