Fabrizio Romano logged in late last night to update us all on Mason Mount’s move to Manchester United, which had gone a little quiet in the last few days.
They are apparently “preparing their opening bid,” with Mount apparently “keen on the move.” This slightly rows back on various reports of the last couple of weeks which have made it sound like a done deal. Instead, it sounds like we’re still in the preliminary stages.
He describes the price tag as the “main issue” in the deal so far – well, we’re not surprised. That tends to be the case. In this case, Chelsea are reportedly holding out for a huge £70m or so for a player with just one year left on his deal, and United are trying to pay closer to £50.
Some Chelsea fans will be getting excited, thinking that this means there’s an increasing chance that Mount will stay. But sadly that’s just not really on the cards it’s just a question of cat and mouse between Man U (who know Chelsea need to sell) and Chelsea (who know Man U want to buy Mount). It will drag on all summer, depending on how much interest from other teams heats up, but eventually someone will pay up, or Chelsea will flinch. So don’t hold your breath that everything falls apart and he ends up signing a new deal. That ship has sailed.