He probably isn't in most people's notional first choice eleven.
But because of his versatility and the way football works (i.e. notional first choice elevens often don't actually play together that much across a season) he will still likely end up playing a lot.
For example, last season McTominay (who was also in very few people's idea of our best choice eleven) ended up with the 7th most minutes for us in all competitions. Ditto Trossard at Arsenal, who ended up in their top 10 for minutes without being in their theoretical starting eleven. And you'd struggle to actually pick City's first choice team given the way their minutes were split.
This is a succinct and well defined way to articulate a drum I have been beating for some time. That football, with the 60-70 games per season, is a squad game. Having lots of good player in your squad is a good thing, and the idea of a first xi is almost antiquated to the point of irrelevance. Fergie famously went through entire seasons without picking the same xi in back to back games. It’s just necessary to rotate to avoid injury and fatigue. It’s also necessary to pose different tactical questions and provide diverse solutions according to your opponent. Putting the same xi out, week on week, just leads to exhaustion and predictability.
As you eruditely pointed out, a versatile squad player who can play several positions at a high level, is invaluable and will accumulate a lot of minutes across the season. People say Mount was a waste of money when we already have Bruno, but that’s such a simplistic and error strewn analysis devoid of practical context. Realistically, to challenge, you need close to two good players in every position and you need 15-16 players, at a minimum, who are genuine starting xi quality. Players who don’t feel or perform like an understudy when called upon. That was something we did well for a number of years, and something city now have in spades. It’s a place we have to get back to, and in that regard Mount fits the prototype perfectly. It’s also something we have potentially created with the signing of Zirkzee. Genuine competition for places, similar levels of quality meaning no drop off when one plays over another, and diverse skill sets so the game can be approached in different ways, according to the situation.
One will always have a preferred XI on paper when everyone is fit, but the reality is that when a deeper tactical analysis of the opposition is done, and real world variables are brought into play, such as fatigue, form, confidence, fitness, team cohesion, key attributes etc, the best XI for any given occasion will differ almost week to week.
It reminds me of lavishly talented United teams of years gone by, where a fabulous flair player was left on the bench in favour of a player like Ji-Sung Park, who went out with specific tactical instructions suited to his skill set, and proved to be pivotal to our victory. The number he did on Pirlo stands out, as does his role in the CL semi final defeat of Arsenal.
And that best player also plays every single game, never rested, never injured... So that's the problem with Mount, isn't it? When and where is he getting minutes?