He has a sharp, opportunistic mind. Easily one of the quickest thinkers at the club. Don’t know if cynicism was part of the curriculum at Chelsea, but he understands to break up play and destroy passing lanes almost as soon as they unfold - multiples of what he does and you have one of those incredibly frustrating swarms that you can’t shake off and find very hard to play through. He also knows to tactical foul, which we’re miles behind as a club.
It’s still weird to me that Fred was sold and Mount essentially took his role - they’re the type you pair, and suddenly, you have the base of a pressing unit that you cannot shake off. It’s weird because nobody else we have thinks in this manner or simply knows what to do in an unfolding scenario in real time; you can see exactly what he’d bring to the clubs who wanted him - a really smooth cog in the machine who is seamless at what he does. Of course, for us, it’s a rather underwhelming signing in isolation for precisely the same reason he’d be such an asset for others - he’s a cog; put him with other cogs, and the machine will run smoothly and efficiently. Outside of that, he can’t be optimised because he isn’t extraordinarily talented over proficient and useful on the ball. A misfit, or a halfway house between future and past; do you get him in to begin the revolution or do you add him after the primary parts to slot in and seamlessly do his thing? Integrating him without a set plan of action is not easy because as a player in a set position, he doesn’t have peaks, just a straight, perfunctory line, but where he comes into his own is the work off the ball: positioning, pressing, tracking, reading of play, blocking passing lanes, positional discipline and concentration so…. lose some offensive prowess in lieu of a much more rounded player or play the more individually brilliant who don’t have his off the ball usefulness? Seems you lose something either way, or better to say: a sacrifice of sorts needs to be made.