Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he does not know the reasons why Mason Mount wanted to leave Chelsea for Manchester United.
In other words, Mason Mount had made his mind up about his future before Chelsea had appointed Mauricio Pochettino. The new coach couldn’t do anything to change his mind and there’s no point investigating contract discussions that happened under the eye of previous managers.
Pochettino has a huge job on his hands this season to get Chelsea back competing with the big boys. It was confirmed this week that he will be trying to achieve that without Mount, who completed a £55m plus £5m add-ons transfer to Manchester United.
While Chelsea have been keen to sell players this summer, Mount was one they would have preferred to keep hold of.
But the midfielder was determined to leave and play under United manager Erik ten Hag. The pair are now preparing for pre-season at Carrington.
It is not known how much of a role incoming manager Pochettino had in Mount’s exit. He was asked about the switch today by reporters and said (via The Metro): “When I talk about the future, it’s about the players in the squad,’ the former Tottenham boss said when asked if he would have liked the 24-year-old in his squad.
“He [Mount] is a Manchester United player now. I don’t know what happened in the past, we need to be focused on our players and move on and try to build a nice story.
“I am proud of my past [at Spurs] but now I need to look forward, concentrate on what people expect of me and hope to build a good relationship with everyone.
“We need to be right in our decision to create a competitive team. What I have found in the club from Monday is very good people, good attitudes. So far so good.”
🗣 "He's a Manchester United now. For sure he loved the club but I don't know what happened in the past and I don't want to talk about that now."
Mauricio Pochettino is focused on the present players, not making a comment on the Mason Mount transfer pic.twitter.com/fwooyMF7qR
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 7, 2023
Chelsea fans will be gutted to lose a player like Mount. We’re happy that United get to benefit from that.
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