Manchester United have secured their first major signing of the summer 2023 transfer window. After aggressively pursuing Chelsea star midfielder Mason Mount for weeks, they finally agreed to terms with the Blues, who were stretching out the negotiations for just a little bit more money.
Ultimately, the Red Devils will spend 55 million pounds plus an additional 5 million pounds in add-ons to sign Mount, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein.
Mount is one of the bigger names in the Premier League and was crucial in Chelsea winning the 2020/21 Champions League. However, there are some valid concerns Manchester United fans should have about the cost of this deal and the way Mount fits the squad.
Let’s take a closer look at three of those concerns. These problems are not highlighted to say that Mason Mount isn’t a great footballer or that he will “flop” with Manchester United, but they are rather explored as a means of discussing the financial investment and potentially problematic implications of the signing. Nuance is key.
Cost of the deal
Spending a total of 60 million pounds for Mason Mount represents a clear overpay and a lack of patience from Manchester United on the transfer market. Spending that much money for a 24-year-old playmaker is not necessarily overpaying, because he is an established Premier League player for a direct rival who would theoretically be near the top of the table in a few seasons.
The real issue is that United could have signed Mount for free in one year. Chelsea had no real leverage in the negotiations, as Mount had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to move to Manchester and had no intention of staying in London. Therefore, United could have easily pivoted to the Blues’ top target, Moisés Caicedo, and paired him with Casemiro at the base of a midfield that included either Jadon Sancho or Bruno Fernandes in the playmaker role.
Instead, Manchester United are spending 60 million pounds that could have went to signing a top-level striker. Perhaps they have already given up on Victor Osimhen and the onerous 150 million euro price tag set by Napoli.
Still, they could have just as easily spent only slightly more money on Randal Kolo Muani at a bigger position of need and a costlier position on the market. More specifically, Kolo Muani had a better 2022/23 season than Mount.
Not an ideal fit
Mason Mount can fulfill two roles in the midfield at a high enough level to be worth 60 million pounds in any context other than a one-year contract. He is a talented No. 10 due to his ability to find goals and assists, as he recorded 11 goals and 10 assists in the 2021/22 Premier League season as one of the league’s top players.
But because No. 10’s are being phased out of the modern game and only truly special playmakers can start in this role, Mount is mainly an asset as a No. 8 in a 4-3-3 system. He works best in a midfield where the opposite 8 is more defensive and has better ball-winning traits, allowing Mount to aggressively work up the pitch and get into the half-spaces to rack up goals and assists. Chelsea in 2020/21 and 2021/22 had a good set up for him with N’Golo Kanté on the other side.
Manchester United utilize a midfield trio with a double-pivot so that they can have a playmaker, with Bruno Fernandes recording more shot-creating actions in European football than any other player last season (219).
Mount thus doesn’t fit, because Manchester United do not utilize a 4-3-3 scheme with a No. 8 who progresses play on the counter or drifts into half-spaces to interchange with a striker in possession.
They can try to utilize him as the right-sided, carrying midfielder in a double-pivot with Casemiro, with the defensive midfielder dropping deeper to cover in possession. Ten Hag could use Mount and Fernandes as a two-headed attacking midfield monster like Manchester City and potentially Arsenal with Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard.
The issue is that this doesn’t seem like the smartest financial investment. Spending 60 million pounds on this kind of player when Arsenal spent 65 million pounds on a player on the same team who is younger and significantly better doesn’t seem like the greatest plan.
Bruno Fernandes
Let’s say Manchester United play in a system with Mount pushing up and occupying central attacking spaces alongside Bruno Fernandes. It is difficult to see both players co-existing, because Fernandes is not someone who thrives off combinations like a Havertz or Timo Werner at Chelsea. Fernandes likes to have possession of the ball. He needs to have the feel of the ball and play like a “quarterback”. I do not mean to compare him to Lionel Messi, but it is kind of like that situation where he needs to feel important in the team and have the ball. Similar profiles cannot co-exist.
The reality is that Fernandes, for all his flaws as an actual midfielder, is a better pure playmaker than Mount. As the statistics show, nobody in European football can create the sheer volumes of chances that Fernandes can, and you’d imagine he would be capable of dishing 20 assists with a better striker. Fernandes averaged a staggering 3.2 key passes per game last season to lead the Premier League and is in the prime of his career at 28.
Instead, United spent money on someone who isn’t as good of a raw playmaker, and, by the way, they could have shifted Sancho into the 10 role in matches to give Fernandes relief as necessary.
Manchester United already had playmakers. If they wanted to sign a No. 8 in a pivot with Casemiro, they could have signed someone with more playmaking skills from deep or a more robust all-around game as a progressor. Instead, they signed an auxiliary playmaking No. 8 or 10, which directly clashes with a player in Fernandes who isn’t going to leave Manchester any time soon with a contract through 2026.
