The future of Mason Mount is already in focus well ahead of the summer transfer window.

The England midfielder is still no closer to agreeing a new contract at Chelsea, whom he joined at the age of six, and the suspicion is growing that this will prove to be his last season at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool lead the list of domestic suitors. The former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel, newly installed as Bayern Munich’s head coach, is also credited with an interest.

And Chelsea have not entirely given up hope of retaining a player who has been a mainstay of the side since breaking into it in 2019-20.

So what is the current situation with Mount? And where is he likeliest to be playing his football next season? The Athletic has spoken to sources close to the situation, who have been granted anonymity to protect relationships, in a bid to determine what might happen next.

Let’s deal with the suitors first — which clubs are interested in him?
Mason Mount is 24 years old, a Champions League winner and an England international boasting 36 caps. Successive Chelsea head coaches — Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel and now Graham Potter — have recognised his importance to their teams. And his current contract expires in the summer of 2024.

In that context, it is no surprise that Mount is coveted.

Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle United and even Tottenham have been monitoring his situation since last summer. The current league leaders, Arsenal, may well seek to strengthen their options at No 8 in the summer and will be well aware of Mount’s pedigree — even if, at present, that is as far as their ‘interest’ has extended to date. Rather, among rival Premier League clubs, it is Liverpool who appear in the strongest position when it comes to pursuing Mount’s signature.

Liverpool will attempt a midfield revamp in the next window. Of their current midfielders, Naby Keita, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all on course to be out of contract this summer and Arthur Melo will return to Juventus at the end of a season-long loan, while Jordan Henderson and Thiago will be 33 and 32 respectively by the start of the next campaign.

With that in mind, the interest in Mount from Anfield is serious.

The Athletic has been told that significant conversations have taken place over a prospective move, with Liverpool already giving proper consideration to what kind of contract they could offer to persuade the player to join them — a reality which Chelsea accept is commonplace. They will not countenance him running his contract down and departing on a free transfer at the end of next season, so would look to sell him this summer if there is no prospect of him extending his stay.

That said, and given his qualities and age, they would still seek £70million ($86.2m), even though he is entering the last year of his deal. Whether Chelsea recouping that kind of fee for Mount is realistic remains to be seen.

What about overseas interest?
Italian giants Juventus are looking to rebuild their team and are keen on him, but it was the reports of serial German champions Bayern Munich’s interest, and a potential reunion there with Tuchel, that got chins wagging again.

Tuchel loved working with Mount at Chelsea, and the feelings were mutual. If the German felt there was a chance of linking up with him again, it would actually be more surprising if he chose not to pursue it.

But the reality is that Tuchel has only just been appointed, replacing the sacked Julian Nagelsmann, and will still be assessing the quality of the players he has inherited. It would be too premature for him to be making demands already on what kind of players he wants signed at the end of the season. Besides, the structure in place at Bayern tends to dictate that it’s the recruitment team who usually identify the players they pursue.

Then there is the question of whether they actually need Mount. Bayern have Thomas Muller, Sadio Mane and Jamal Musiala to play the No 10 role. In midfield, Konrad Laimer has already signed to join from fellow Bundesliga side RB Leipzig as a free agent for next season. Laimer will add to the competition for places provided by Ryan Gravenberch, Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich. Of greater importance to Bayern is the purchase of a centre-forward.

All of which suggests an interest in Mount would be some distance down the Bundesliga club’s list of priorities.

the purchase of a centre-forward.

All of which suggests an interest in Mount would be some distance down the Bundesliga club’s list of priorities.

If Mount’s qualities are recognised so widely by other elite clubs, how have Chelsea allowed it to come to this?

Before any fingers are pointed at the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium which bought the club last year, questions should be asked of the previous regime and why the people in charge at Stamford Bridge then did not try to discuss fresh terms sooner.

Mount agreed his current deal in 2019, when he was joining Chelsea’s senior squad for the first time having impressed on a season’s loan at Derby County in the Championship, English football’s second tier. Naturally, the salary involved — comfortably below £100,000 per week — reflected his relative lack of experience at that time.

The fact he remains on those terms means he is one of the lowest-paid players at the club, despite having long established himself as one of the team’s most important players.

Chelsea fans have voted Mount their player of the season in both of the past two seasons and he was in the starting line-up that won the Champions League final under Tuchel in May 2021, setting up Kai Havertz to score the only goal that night. The repercussions of the club’s inability to agree improved terms with the player immediately after that win over Manchester City in the final are still being felt now.

The sanctions imposed on then-owner Roman Abramovich by the UK government 12 months ago in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine did prevent Chelsea from entering into negotiations over player contracts. By the time the new owners were at the helm, Mount’s agreement had just two years left to run — and all clubs start to become vulnerable when a player’s deal is within that range.

However, that is not to say either party has set out to run his contract down any further. Things just have not worked out so far.

But there have been talks, surely?

Yes, multiple meetings have taken place since last summer — initially between Mount’s father Tony and Chelsea’s co-owners Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. Hopes were high after a minor breakthrough just before the World Cup started last November but, since the turn of the year, Chelsea’s new co-sporting director Paul Winstanley has led the club’s pitch and nothing has progressed.

Offers have been made over the past nine months, but they have been rejected. There are a number of reasons why, although The Athletic has been told suggestions Mount has been demanding £300,000 a week are wide of the mark.

Nevertheless, the issue is complicated.

There is confusion over how long a contract would have to be to satisfy each party. Mount does not want to limit his future options by locking himself into a deal that would take him into his 30s. Chelsea, though, would not be seeking to replicate the length of contracts up to eight years handed out to recent signings such as Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and Wesley Fofana — younger players on far lower basic salaries than Mount would demand.

There have been suggestions Chelsea offered a much shorter commitment after the World Cup ended in December — the midfielder started two of England’s five games — but on the proviso of Mount accepted a smaller salary. Even so, no compromise has been reached on the length of deal that might be acceptable.

Similarly, there has been no agreement on wages at any point. The new Chelsea hierarchy favour highly-incentivised contracts, with a portion of the player’s salary tied to playing time, starts, honours won and the club qualifying for UEFA competition.

Players’ wages under the previous regime were guaranteed, whereas the new structure is far more variable — and this is at a time when Chelsea are out of both domestic cup competitions and sit 10th in the Premier League, 11 points off the top four and with hopes of involvement in next season’s Champions League appearing to hinge on going on from their current place in the last eight to win this year’s version of that competition.

With Mount also heavily used in the club’s promotion work through their media channels, sponsorship deals and marketing, both domestically and abroad, the subject of image rights will also have to be addressed in any discussions. None of these negotiations is straightforward.

Does he want to stay?

Mount’s priority from the get-go has always been to remain at Stamford Bridge.

Obviously, people will question that sentiment while negotiations remain at an impasse. Yet a footballer’s playing career is short and any one of them is entitled to ask for what they think they are worth, no matter how much they love their club.

Players within the game talk to one another and he will be more than aware of how much counterparts at other clubs are earning, while the reality that Mount is attracting interest from some of the biggest teams in England and on the continent also strengthens his bargaining position.

And that enthusiasm has not waned through this difficult, stop-start negotiation?

How much Mount wants to be part of things at Chelsea long-term now is much more up for debate. His camp have become aware of the club’s stance that they intend to sell if he does not agree a new contract, which has hardly improved the relationship.

Mount’s affection for a club he has been part of for almost two decades and their fans still leaves the door open for the situation to improve, but the number of interested clubs coming out of the woodwork suggests a belief within the game that he can be persuaded to leave.

Does Graham Potter rate him?

Yes. He has spoken about Mount in glowing terms since replacing Tuchel in September and consistently selected him despite the player’s struggles for form this season.

Over recent weeks, Mount’s absence from the team can largely be explained by his struggles with a muscle injury next to his pubic bone. However, the England international is back in training this week and, while the game against Aston Villa on Saturday may come too soon, Potter will be planning to use him during a busy April schedule that includes seven more fixtures, including two meetings with Real Madrid.

When asked by The Athletic recently whether he had impressed upon Mount his desire for him to stay, Potter confirmed that was the case. But, like his predecessors, the head coach at Chelsea only has part of the say, and there are other factors at play.

So what is likely to happen next?

A decision is not expected until a final round of talks takes place at the end of the season.

Mount wants to focus on the important games coming up, including a Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid and, next Tuesday, Liverpool’s visit in the Premier League. For their part, Chelsea are seeking to implement a policy whereby internal contract negotiations do not take place during a season and, instead, are primarily undertaken during the summer window.

They will attempt to stick to their valuation of the player.

Even so, Chelsea have their financial position to consider, having announced losses for the financial year up to June 30, 2022 of £121million ($149m) — a period affected by the government sanctions imposed on Abramovich.

Any sale of a youth-team graduate developed in the club’s academy would count as pure profit on the books and help Chelsea comply with UEFA’s financial fair play regulations. If they cash in on Mount before the end of June, the transfer fee will be included in their accounts for the year up to June 30, 2023 — a factor that cannot be underestimated given the club have spent in excess of £500million on signing players in the past two windows.

All that will have to be taken into serious consideration.

Things can always change in football but, as it stands, it does feel that Mount’s time at Chelsea is coming to an end.

Ignored post. Sadness