Frank Lampard has confirmed that he has no role in negotiations between Chelsea and Mason Mount regarding a new contract. The 24-year-old faces an increasingly uncertain future at Stamford Bridge with his deal set to expire at the end of next season.
One of Todd Boehly's priorities following the takeover last year was to tie Mount down to a long-term future at the club, football.london understands. But, it's believed that negotiations have proven difficult thus far with the proposed length of contract and wage packet an issue.
Mount is far from one of the top earners at Chelsea despite racking up nearly 200 appearances for the club. It is understood that the Cobham graduate wants to stay at his boyhood club, though the feeling is mutual that both parties are some way off an agreement at the moment.
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If an agreement cannot be reached then Mount will be free to leave the Blues in June 2024. football.london understands that Liverpool are long-term admirers of the midfielder, while Manchester City and Manchester United are also thought to be monitoring the situation.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea's clash against Brentford on Wednesday evening, Lampard explained his stance on the contract saga. When asked if there's a solution to the stand-off, the 44-year-old replied: "Yes, but at this point it’s not my opinion that will be the resolution.
"It will be the opinion of the club and the opinion of Mason, so that’s between them. I think my opinion’s pretty clear, I don’t need to spell it out what I think of Mason as a player, but it’s not my one to get into, that’s between them."
Then, when asked about Mount's recent form, Lampard leapt to his defence and noted the midfielder's success in recent years. The Blues boss added: "I think form for a young player, people can analyse and question form, but you can very quickly forget the consistency that Mason’s shown in the period since he’d broken through.
"I’ve been a big part of that, in the beginning and he carried on after I left, for his country as well. Then you forget how young he is because he’s so mature as a player that all his managers have trusted him so much.
"So I think if there was a drop in form, it’s more than understandable and I think every player has it, especially in the developing years. But there’s no doubt Mason is a top-class player and what he brings the team in and out of possession.
"Form will always waver slightly but the top players manager to gain great consistency and he’s been Chelsea Player of the Year in a couple of seasons with a lot of top players around him… People think it’s easy to play with top players around you. It’s not easy and he’s managed to do that."
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