How Manchester United signed Mason Mount: Smokescreens, a placatory phone call and Ten Hag’s sales pitch

Laurie Whitwell

It was after three unsuccessful bids that Manchester United let it be known a week last Friday that they would step away from talks with Chelsea over Mason Mount. They had a figure in mind, £55million ($70m), and saw efforts by Chelsea to push for more than that as unreasonable, given Mount had only a year left on his contract and clearly wanted to join Erik ten Hag’s team.

United made contact with Moises Caicedo’s representatives to check on his availability and spark the sense they really would move on to other midfield targets, even though several sources doubted the prospects of a full-blown attempt to buy the Brighton man. Talks with Adrien Rabiot, the France international, were also held, even if they were abruptly curtailed when he signed a new contract at Juventus.

Smokescreens? Perhaps.

Mount was United’s top choice to improve their midfield and recruitment staff had done a lot of work to secure his signature, having already convinced him to move to Manchester and agreed personal terms. But, by the Sunday, the impasse over a fee looked like it might linger beyond the start of pre-season. A delay past that point could have caused agitation for manager Ten Hag.

Then on the following Tuesday, Tony Mount, the player’s father, had a phone conversation with Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali to smooth the path to an agreement.

There had been friction between the groups over the deterioration of Mount’s relationship with Chelsea’s powerbrokers. Sources familiar with the situation, who have been granted anonymity when speaking to The Athletic to protect relationships, say that led to Boehly and Eghbali digging their heels in over a high price — starting at £70million plus add-ons.

But that conversation, instigated by Mount’s dad, helped get things going again. Those involved resolved to find an amicable solution for all parties.

It was then that United football director John Murtough reinitiated talks with Paul Winstanley, his counterpart at Stamford Bridge, and found a compromise that has left both sides satisfied and Mount on his way north.

The fee agreed was for an initial £55million, with £5m in potential add-ons, thus going beyond United’s top valuation. But, crucially, for Chelsea to receive the full £60m, Mount will have to win the biggest silverware with United more than once and also play in a high percentage of the relevant matches.

In those circumstances, United will be very happy to pay those add-ons.

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United had started pitching at the £40million mark, so the final possible price still represents a 50 per cent increase.

But Chelsea’s final counter-proposal before negotiations were momentarily halted was £65million (£58m, plus £7m of add-ons) so United see the likely £55m cost as a positive outcome, especially as well-placed sources say Mount’s asking price would have been £100m had he not been a free agent in 2024.

The fee can also be seen in light of Arsenal agreeing to pay an expected £105million for Declan Rice. At one stage, United considered making a cash-plus-player offer to West Ham for Rice, but Mount was always their preference.

Agreeing a transfer before the end of June was significant. Last summer, new manager Ten Hag had to wait until the first week of July to secure his first United signing in Tyrell Malacia, who was the only fresh face on the club’s pre-season tour to Thailand and Australia.

United privately accepted they had wanted to complete business more quickly, and getting Mount on board before the club’s first friendly against Leeds in the Norwegian city of Oslo next Wednesday (July 12) is a sign of improvements in that regard. Mount went through a medical on Monday and will meet some of his new team-mates for the first time when reporting to Carrington with the rest of the non-international players on Thursday.

Building blocks had been put in place in May, when Ten Hag and Murtough first held talks to stress to Mount his importance to United’s plans. They made him feel like he was wanted at Old Trafford, a sense which had been eroded for him at Chelsea last season as the revolving door for new players kept spinning.

Chelsea had reached a verbal agreement with Mount on a long-term deal before the World Cup started last November, but then pulled their offer in January and instead put a formal one-year contract on the table in February. Mount, who first attended Chelsea’s academy when he was six, had initially told team-mates he wanted to stay. But as the weeks went on, and irritation over the club’s approach took hold, the prospect of leaving became a reality.

The Premier League’s top clubs sprang into action.

Mount was on the radars for Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United. Arsenal and Liverpool held talks about a move, with agent Neil Fewings providing assistance. But Tony Mount guided the process, and attended games at Old Trafford as United began their persuasion strategy.

Ten Hag had admired Mount since the player was on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, tracking him through the whole 2017-18 campaign. Mount scored his first senior goal against Ten Hag’s Utrecht in October 2017, coming off the bench with Vitesse trailing 1-0 to equalise with his first touch. Ten Hag was then appointed by Ajax that December.

Since leaving the Amsterdam club for United, Ten Hag has wanted a mobile No 8 who can add attacking edge and defensive nous, and he sees Mount as a modern midfielder, who is good on and off the ball. United’s recruitment department backed up the view of the 24-year-old as a player with the right profile and character.

Murtough met Mount Sr in London after United had beaten Bournemouth on May 20 to effectively clinch Champions League qualification, and personal terms were agreed. Mount Jr told Ten Hag he wanted to come to United. Playing in the 2023-24 Champions League, as Mount has done in each of the last four seasons, was a factor.

It was only then that United’s focus on Mount became public, their work previously having been conducted without attracting attention. On May 24, The Athletic reported he was leaning towards joining United.

The visit of Chelsea to Old Trafford the following day provided the perfect opportunity for face-to-face talks over a fee. Directors from both clubs spoke to each other at the game about their thoughts on the amount of money to be exchanged.

Mount told friends he was readying for a transfer to Old Trafford.

 

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It would take four more weeks for that ambition to be realised.

The uncertainty over United’s future ownership did not block the purchase of one major player, but agents were given the impression that any additional signings would have to wait for clarity on a takeover.

United also have financial fair play considerations, meaning a net spend this summer of around £100million, so Ten Hag and Murtough weighed up which targets to devote that money to. Ten Hag would like an upgrade on goalkeeper David de Gea, now a free agent, while a new lead striker is essential. United spent some time assessing the costs of various options.

In that period, Bayern Munich appeared to be a genuine option for Mount. The move would have reunited him with Thomas Tuchel, the manager under whom he won the 2020-21 Champions League with Chelsea and has played his best football.

In that context, and after taking stock, United pressed ahead, making their first bid for Mount on June 14. They returned with improved offers on June 21 and 23, the latter being for £55million.

Staff at Old Trafford felt Chelsea were adding a “United tax” to Mount’s price, having accepted £30million from Manchester City earlier in the summer for fellow midfielder Mateo Kovacic. However, Kovacic is five years older than Mount, thus reducing his value and, as the days went on, Chelsea, although open to selling their academy graduate, also seemed to take greater appreciation of the cost of letting go of a player who had been with them since the age of six. The supporter reaction to a sale of the homegrown, two-time player of the year was factored into their demands.

Murtough kept Ten Hag and chief executive Richard Arnold abreast of the negotiations, then received the sign-off from co-owner Joel Glazer.

As part of the process, Ten Hag met Mount for face-to-face talks. The Dutchman was convinced that this was another player of pedigree eager for a new challenge, just as last summer’s signings Casemiro and Christian Eriksen had been. United have made a policy of bringing in players who really want to play for them, rather than coming for a big payday.

Mount recently spent 10 days in Portugal working with his own fitness and conditioning team, all aimed at hitting the ground running in pre-season, given he had missed the end of the last one following surgery on a pubic bone injury. United and Chelsea agreed a fee and he returned from a weekend in France to have a medical and sign a contract running to 2028, with the option of an additional extra year.

He is set to be paid more than £200,000 per week, potentially rising to at least £250,000 per week with bonuses — in the same ballpark as the deal Chelsea had originally offered, as well as a rival proposal put forward by Liverpool.

His salary is a sharp rise on his previous earnings at Stamford Bridge, where he was on comfortably below £100,000 per week, but the focus for him is not money but ambition. Having felt unwanted at Chelsea, he will enter a club in United eager to embrace his talents.