Some fans keep dreaming of this, thing ETH is a possession monster; when really from all indicators, he's more of a presser. More Klopp
People talk so much about English bias, but there are cases like the one for Mount in which the opposite has been true. He's a technically gifted, energetic, ball carrying, pressing midfielder who was player of the season in a champions league winning campaign and with a host of top performances for a top team and a top club in a strong league all at the age of 24. Yet for him, there is no potential of becoming a world beater or getting more refined, yet if he played in the Portuguese league or even italian league with 2 good UCL performances, people here will be raving about it.
Fans would be willing to shell 40m on a player far less proven in the Dutch league, 70m for a French League unknown and come back and complain about how money was wasted. Mount is a proven talent already. He's a really good player and can get even better and more useful. He's coming at the right age, wants to play for us and has the right mentality. The problem is fans seem to have a false perception regarding Ten Haag's football. They seem to think it's possession oriented and needs a deep lying playmaker based on very limited knowledge of watching ETH's most recent Ajax team. Yes there is an emphasis on technically skilled players ( like Mount), but the team was not as possession based as people would like to think, it's not Man City. Ajax had high possession due to their dominance of play in the league, not because they were necessarily a possession-oriented team. They won back possession quickly, but they weren't a team to play patiently. Outside of shape ( which resembles Guardiola's teams), the football and the plan of attack was similar to Liverpool's with a bit more fluidity. Heavy pressing, quick conversion into attacks and attacking down the flanks using combinations and one on ones. Not understanding this is why some had it in their heads that Bruno wouldn't work under ETH or that Rashford would struggle. Not knowing that these players fit in perfectly.
Mount covers the same bases Bernardo Silva covers for City, having more energy and speed and slightly less technique. He has the ball carrying that people want from FDJ and is also a good chance creator. We also still have Bruno, Eriksen, Casemiro and Fred. Eriksen will still play a lot of games despite Mount starting more often. He can also fill in out wide in case of injuries, a problem we had last season when we consistently shifted Bruno. We just signed a player that can cover 4 positions on the pitch effectively. People talk about depth, but signing versatile players with skills that can translate across different positions is how a team has sustainable depth.
