Mount can run around a bit more you know…our midfield is going to run and run and get the ball back only to lose it again. That’s what is going to happen with a midfield of Mount and Bruno.
Mason Mount | Confirmed
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He is quoted as 55m pounds which is 63m euros so not that off the mark.
Kovacic would be a far better signing than Mount
This time last year I would have been called crazy if I said:
Luke Shaw was capable of putting in world class performances at center back
Marcus Rashford will score 30 goals
A 30 year old Madrid outcast will have one of the best seasons in his career playing for United
Aaron Wan Bissaka looks very comfortable on the ball.
Well break the club record for wins in a season in the 22/23 season.
Now I’m supposed to believe a bunch of FM experts on a message board know better than ETH? Nah.
Luke Shaw was capable of putting in world class performances at center back
Marcus Rashford will score 30 goals
A 30 year old Madrid outcast will have one of the best seasons in his career playing for United
Aaron Wan Bissaka looks very comfortable on the ball.
Well break the club record for wins in a season in the 22/23 season.
Now I’m supposed to believe a bunch of FM experts on a message board know better than ETH? Nah.
For the people who are worried about the price, I have every confidence that if we do sign Mason Mount it will be at a more reasonable price than the above mentioned 75 million, Chelsea are desperate to sell players by the end of June and if he doesn't sign a new contract there's no way they will let him run it out because any penny they make from him is pure profit playing into that FFP. Not to mention Mount's apparent preference to join United.
In retrospect what Boehly has done since he has arrived has not only ballsed up their position on Mount but has actually really messed up their negotiating position and ability to demand higher prices of their players, teams are going to take them to the cleaners this summer because of their dire need to be rid of them by a specific deadline.
I expect the club to walk away and try for other targets if Chelsea stick to their 70million valuation and I don't expect a Liverpool or Arsenal to bite the bullet at that price either
This gets done between 40-50 million in my opinion, IF it gets done.
In retrospect what Boehly has done since he has arrived has not only ballsed up their position on Mount but has actually really messed up their negotiating position and ability to demand higher prices of their players, teams are going to take them to the cleaners this summer because of their dire need to be rid of them by a specific deadline.
I expect the club to walk away and try for other targets if Chelsea stick to their 70million valuation and I don't expect a Liverpool or Arsenal to bite the bullet at that price either
This gets done between 40-50 million in my opinion, IF it gets done.
How should we setup this midfield in your opinion to stop that from happening so much
Yeah I am disappointed we seemingly aren't interested in him,can't be the age thing because brought in Casa and Eriksen last summer
I'd rather have Kante + Kovacic for 35m than Mount + Rabiot for 75m
Kante is 32 and not that good anymore. Kovacic is a skilful player but incredibly slow, and getting slower, the last thing our midfield needs.
I'd take Mount and Rabiot over them every day, it's not even close.
I'm pretty sure you would have said something similar after Mourinho's and Ole's decent seasons. Look how well that turned out to be. All good managers make mistakes when it comes to transfers. That's the reason majority of the big clubs have appointed sporting directors and have taken the power of identifying transfer targets away from the managers. We are one of the very few that are still stuck in the past.
Kroos is also really slow but his football quality didn't hinder him to play on top level since years. I think Kovacic is not that slow and his playmaking and press resistance would be amazing for us.
He is injury prone and has been terrible for some time now
The table is in £ not € though, so it is well off the mark.
I think if he's pushing to leave and won't sign a new contract then no one is paying £75m for Mount. A lot of other players probably become better options for that kind of money.
Kovacic is 29 already. We need to start looking at younger players for that position given the age profile of our current starters in that midfield 3. Especially if we are intent on signing Kane as well.
Only if Kovacic was anywhere near as good as Kroos, which he is not.
I'd take Ziyech for 15m.
He's also getting quite a few injuries so no thanks
No one will pay 75m for Mount this summer, especially when he is in last year of his contact and would cost 0 next summer.
Around 35-40m would be the right price.
He’s also well overpriced if those figures are true.
I’m yet to see a tournament where Kovacic outshined Modric or Rakatic when he was playing.
They are asking less(£35-40M) for Kone. Is mount worth twice as much?
Such a weird signing. I don't see how it works in our midfield, maybe as depth for Bruno?
I don't want Chelseas regects, certainly not at £70m!! Where did they get valuation from? Taking the pjss.
He's a £35m player tops. Anything more and we'd be getting fleeced again.
Also, I think he's shjte and not what we need. Just another mediocre midfielder. Would Madrid buy him? Or Barca? Or even City?
No.
So why are we even contemplating it? It shows how mediocre our thinking has become over the last ten years if we're looking at players like Mount.
He's a £35m player tops. Anything more and we'd be getting fleeced again.
Also, I think he's shjte and not what we need. Just another mediocre midfielder. Would Madrid buy him? Or Barca? Or even City?
No.
So why are we even contemplating it? It shows how mediocre our thinking has become over the last ten years if we're looking at players like Mount.
The thing is, Arsenal and Liverpool both want him too. But I also can't figure out why.
Because they are both as deluded as we are.
What on earth?
Kante is still extremely good, he's just crocked. I've never in my life seen Kovacic described as slow, let alone "incredibly slow".
Kovacic is a much much better fit for your midfield than Mount is anyway. Better in deeper areas, better ball retention and carrying which should be a priority for you next to Bruno, better defensive nous, etc.
Younger, historically less injury prone, more flexible tactically, homegrown. We aren't getting £70m for Mount, but £50m seems plausible.
I would assume there were a few that we could have bought for 90 million. I also don't see why we were only chasing left footed player. Bruno seems to be doing as good on RW as Antony. Sancho has been very good recently and no doubt he's a better attacker than Antony.
Back to the original point from @crossy1686, I do agree Ten Hag made a few mistakes in transfer market. Sabitzer/Wout were both failures, huge question marks over Antony. He got in spot on with Martinez and Eriksen. Casemiro is a different story.
I have doubts about getting Mount because he's another attacking minded player deployed in midfield. We seem to love doing that at United.
OK, Kante is 32 and crocked. So let's put that to one side. Not a good purchase.What on earth?
Kante is still extremely good, he's just crocked. I've never in my life seen Kovacic described as slow, let alone "incredibly slow".
Kovacic is a much much better fit for your midfield than Mount is anyway. Better in deeper areas, better ball retention and carrying which should be a priority for you next to Bruno, better defensive nous, etc.
Kovacic is definitely slow. He's a really good player (as I already acknowledged) but I've seen him try to get a grip on an opposition midfield and look like he's running in treacle a few times this season. I'll show some humility here though and defer to a Chelsea fan who watches him every game.
I'd say we do need players that look after the ball and can progress it from deep. But we also need them to be able to cover large spaces quickly off the ball. We don't have that at the moment which leaves us looking wide open at times. Kovacic isn't the one.
I don't think it would be smart to spend so much money on him.
For one, there's tons of these 8/10 hybrids on the market that you can get almost every summer. If we are spending big in midfield, we need an elite ball progressor from deep. Those players are rarer and are actually worth the money.
For one, there's tons of these 8/10 hybrids on the market that you can get almost every summer. If we are spending big in midfield, we need an elite ball progressor from deep. Those players are rarer and are actually worth the money.
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From Chelsea’s point of view he’s a pure profit sale. I’d imagine if sold it’ll be around £45-55m probably with add ons. Anything south of £40m I think would be a good deal for any club purchasing.
The key thing for me is Chelsea need to sell a player like him and relatively soon. June 30th will come round sooner than we think and so I’d expect movement from Mount, Gallagher, Hudson-Odoi and Loftus Cheek. They aren’t in a position financially or squad size wise to draw out negotiations.
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You assume wrong. Nobody so far has been able to name a realistic alternative and I’ve been asking sporadically since August 2022.
The only notable ones that moved that window were Antony who wanted to come here and Raphinha who wanted Barcelona and only Barcelona. We chased left footed because of the tactical benefits of having a player able to cut inside and open up a pitch when out wide. Antony’s ball progression is also the best in our squad from carries too so it’s no exaggeration to say he’s vital to us getting up the pitch and staying there.
Ten Hag or more to the point our recruitment department were limited to loan signings in January. To be overly critical when so short of options is unfair on Ten Hag for those two players. I have no doubt neither would have been his first choice in a completely free market.
I do however appreciate the concerns over Mount. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some part of me also worried about it but when I stop to think what we’re missing and how well Ten Hag has done in terms of player development too I am happy to trust him.
Any one of the Brighton pair. Mac Allister or Caiceda.
With Bruno in the team, it can only work if you have a mobile and proper double pivot something similar to what Spurs used to have with Dembele/Dier with Eriksen floating around or Bayern with Martinez/Bastian back in the day when they won UCL with Muller essentially being Bruno. This is one of the reasons Bruno was looking so good under Ole, because we played with Fred/McT as a double pivot, the problem was that these two are simply not good enough on the ball but you need that defensive stability when Bruno is on the pitch.
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That wasn't my point. I just think that spending 75m on Mount is pointless considering his best position is Bruno's, while Kovacic whom I consider a better player for the needed position, is available for much cheaper. And I'd take a free Kante to backup Casemiro because his personality is 100 times that of Rabiot's. And I disagree that he has become shite. He is still an upgrade on Fred, Donny and McT.
I mean, I'd say most teams who could use a top tier 8 with adequate cover to prevent him from playing every match could use Kante on a free. He's still elite when fit - and on a free has the potential to be a genuine ceiling-raiser in my opinion.
Re: Kovacic, I just don't think he can be correctly described as slow. He's faster than Mount (not sure how high of a bar that is) and he's dealt with a couple nagging injuries this year (think personally that this is a much bigger concern than his fit).
I can't warm up to Mount at all.
I just don't think he's a good fit with Bruno already in the team. We need a midfielder who's adept on receiving the ball in deeper areas, but capable at line-breaking passes + ball carrying.
Mount's best work is further up the field. We need to get better at building up from the back and I don't think Mount is helping in that regard at all. As squad depth, he's far too expensive to justify the fee too.
I'd rather Rice 1000% over Mount.
I just don't think he's a good fit with Bruno already in the team. We need a midfielder who's adept on receiving the ball in deeper areas, but capable at line-breaking passes + ball carrying.
Mount's best work is further up the field. We need to get better at building up from the back and I don't think Mount is helping in that regard at all. As squad depth, he's far too expensive to justify the fee too.
I'd rather Rice 1000% over Mount.
Thing is, Casemeiro himself is an inconsistent passer so the foundation itself is dodgy for this two 8s and a DM system unless one of the 8s is a true playmaker who can dictate the engine room and we don’t have that.
OK, how about Michael Olise? Left footed right winger, much better stats in terms of G+A/90' than Antony. Better at tackles, interceptions and blocks as well. Actually the only thing Antony has over him is he runs with the ball more and takes million more shots. You don't think we would've gotten him for 90'? I am not even arguing if we should be getting him and how much he's worth it, I am just debugging the idea Antony was the only option out there. He clearly wasn't, and I still argue if we needed to go all in on him. The fact is ETH insisted on bringing Antony, a guy he knows very well and this transfer is 100% on him.
I agree about the loan deals, but you have to see he got it wrong about Sabitzer, he deployed him as "connector" in the first game and quickly realized he's just a second striker. The point is, jury is still out on how ETH can identify targets. I wouldn't worry about that now, but I would be very careful about giving him full control over transfers. We've been doing a lot of experiments which looked like it wil fail from the start, especially in midfield area and I fear Mount will be added to that list because he doesn't look like a natural midfielder that will do the job in 2 man midfield. Would much prefer Rice actually.
This. Very risky approach. Casemiro also can't cover that much ground defensively by himself and that's actually why he ends up doing slicing tackles so often. This is first issue we need to fix, get him a partner or ideally someone who can also be a backup CDM.
Literally anyone?
Olise and Zaha from Palace, Bowen and Fornals from West Ham, Barnes and Tete from Leicester, Neto from Wolves, McNeil from Everton, Solomon from Fulham, Mitoma from Brighton, Pulisic from Chelsea, and last but not least, our very own Garnacho.
All 'realistic' alternatives to a man that cost £90m and has flattered to deceive, and I'm not even hating on Antony, I like him, I think he'll come good at some point but you'd have to be fecking mad to suggest that was a good deal for anyone except Ajax.
Indeed, I'm not convinced on how well it would work in that regard either.
Plus it places a lot of responsibility on your back four to progress the ball. And while that's okay for Martinez + Shaw on the left, Varane + AWB/Dalot on the right seems less promising than the Timber + Mazraoui combination ETH most recently had at Ajax. So you're depending on signings elsewhere too.
But if ETH does want to opt for this system then in theory that's how it works. A lot of people have been calling for that deeper lying #8 on this forum but it's worth keeping in mind that you don't need to set up that way at all. And if the reports about using Mount as a #8 are true, it seems we won't.
Interesting video, looked like a right bellend though going on about Sabitzer in his clip though. I agree we need to upgrade our DM for situations he's highlighted, because we don't have someone who's confident to receive passes in those positions, when outnumbered.
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