Mason Mount is a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge but Chelsea may have backed themselves into a corner whereby selling the player, who joined the Blues aged six, is the logical option.
The 24-year-old has less than 15 months left on his current deal at Stamford Bridge, having come through the club’s youth ranks and progressed into an integral first-team player. Mount last signed a new contract in July 2019 after impressing on loan at Derby but is now coming to the final section of that agreement.
Mount is not currently one of the top 20 paid players at Chelsea and with multiple attacking arrivals at the West London club across the past two transfer windows, his future has come into question. Talks over a contract extension have stalled.
Chelsea are in a precarious position in terms of their finances as they have spent over £550million on transfer fees this season alone, a record for any club, in addition to the payments involved in sacking managers Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.
Additionally, the club’s accounts show that the club’s departing board received a payoff of £49.75million last summer, with Marina Granovskaia alone pocketing £36million for 'services related to the club's sale'.
The payments came after a group led by US businessman Todd Boehly completed their takeover of the club following the conclusion of the 2021/22 campaign. It brought an end to Roman Abramovich’s 19-year control of the club, a period in which they won five Premier League titles, five FA Cups and two Champions League crowns.
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Chelsea’s outlay in financial commitments rocketed in January with the signing of Mykhaylo Mudryk, who arrived in a deal worth up to £87m while they also completed the signing of PSV forward Noni Madueke alongside bringing Joao Felix in on a loan deal for the remainder of the campaign.
They were joined by defender Benoit Badiashile arriving from Monaco, a deal being concluded to sign right-back Malo Gusto from Lyon, the signings of midfielder Andrey Santos and striker David Datro Fofana and then, on transfer deadline, the British club-record signing of Enzo Fernandez.
Chelsea need to balance the books in order to comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, having become the first club to have accumulated pre-tax losses exceeding £1billion since the Premier League began.
Due to the club’s need for quick cash to improve their immediate accounting situation and the reality is, selling homegrown players is the fastest and easiest solution. Because those players did not cost transfer fees, any sales can be immediately and fully registered as profit in accounts.
It will be little surprise if players like Levi Colwill, Conor Gallagher, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi are sold this summer. There are no plans to sell Reece James, but the situation of Mount may mean a sale is a realistic summer outcome.
The attacker has a long list of admirers including Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. He would fetch a significant transfer fee and would remove the risk of Chelsea losing the player as a free agent the following year.
The Blues are overstocked, significantly so, in attacking positions and the loss of Mount could be handled within the squad. His exit would undoubtedly hurt many Chelsea fans, but the situation that the club have put themselves in may ensure that his sale may now be eminently sensible.
