What Mason Mount told Harvey Vale as Frank Lampard…

What Mason Mount told Harvey Vale as Frank Lampard Chelsea transfer promise realised

Before the summer of 2019, if you had told anyone inside or out of Chelsea that in under two years, an academy graduate would have a defining say in a Champions League final, you might have received some chuckles.

Any further back, and it would have seemed fanciful. Although a section of supporters are concerned that the club may be open to passing up on some existing academy talent, it is beneficial to gauge how much progress has been made in a short space of time.

The pretty transformative summer of 2019 when Frank Lampard replaced Maurizio Sarri will mostly be defined by its influence in opening the door for the likes of Mason Mount.

Mount, along with Reece James, Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Billy Gilmour, all enjoyed their proper breakthroughs into Chelsea's first team, all in different ways adding fresh energy into what could have proved a testing season.

The next batch of academy talent looking to breakthrough will hopefully be inspired by Mount's meteoric rise, showing proof that there can be a very fruitful path at Stamford Bridge. One of those is Harvey Vale, currently preparing for England's U19 European Championship final with Israel on Friday night.

Vale told media that Mount had offered advice to the 18-year-old before this summer's tournament in Slovakia.

"We saw him (Mount) at St George's (Park) a couple of weeks back when we had our pre-camp, and he gave me some words of advice on how to deal with the pressure and the tournament and stuff like that. So he's been good to me."

Vale also went on to detail the high levels expected in Chelsea's academy and the positive environment it has cultivated. "As soon as you put the Chelsea shirt on as you step into the academy, there's a real aura. That winning mentality's instilled in us. They don't just like to make us good footballers, they want to make sure we're good people."

That belief led by Neil Bath, head of youth development, has helped mould talent that is not only thriving in England but across Europe currently at some of the world's major clubs.

As pre-season begins in preparation for the 2022/23 campaign, Mount will walk into this summer with the same motivation to secure his first-team spot, but in a very different status to the one, he walked in with three years ago.

Mount is no longer the hopeful loanee asking for a chance, he is now a guaranteed starter. Albeit still under 25, his reputation is akin to a senior player performing as one of the club's most consistent talents in recent seasons, earning consecutive player of the year awards.

Vale's future is less certain following discussions over his contract, which expires next summer, meaning that a loan looks unlikely unless the club can agree a new deal with the midfielder. With fears he could follow the likes of Marc Guehi and Tino Livramento in pursuing instant first-team minutes elsewhere.

But Mount's words of wisdom and proof of development in recent years, along with the likes of Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah, can offer the inspiration to stick around at Chelsea.

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