Mason Mount accepts Manchester United fans have not seen the best of him, but he believes he is now ready to help the club challenge for the Premier League title.
“I have a goal of winning the Premier League,” Mount says. “I’ve won the Champions League already, but can we do that? Yes, I think we can as a group.
“It may seem a little bit far away, but you have to have that mentality to really push yourself as a group. We’ve shown what we can do against the big teams already this season: Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal.
“It’s about now doing it on a bigger stage in the Champions League and doing it more consistently in the Premier League. Hopefully, I can be a massive part of that moving forward next season. Yeah, it’s a goal. I want to win the Premier League.”
Mount is relaxed and open, having just stepped off the indoor pitch at St George’s Park, the national centre for English football, where he managed a team of 11 children who have critical illnesses for a special Make-A-Wish experience. His side faced off against a group of Premier League mascots, managed by Jamie Redknapp, with Luke Shaw assisting Mount.
Across 18 months of planning, Mount helped organise the event, covering the costs, so that children whose lives have been disrupted by hospital visits could get a footballer experience across two days, including arriving by chauffeur-driven car to a heroes’ welcome, press conferences with video questions from Premier League players, and meals tailored to fitness at the restaurant where the England squad eat when they’re in camp.
“You see the smiles on the kids’ faces and how much it means to them, and their families as well,” he says. “It’s a little bit of time away that they can forget about things. Conor Gallagher phoned in yesterday and they spoke to him.”
Mount gave a team talk to his players before kick-off, but doesn’t have any plans to move into coaching himself just yet. “I love football, so you never know where it can lead,” he says. “I absolutely loved that today. When we had the meeting and we were talking about tactics and the opposition team, it was amazing. Even Shawy was like, ‘Oh, you were quite good in there’. I think he was surprised.”
Mount has praised Carrick’s impact (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Michael Carrick has surprised many by transforming United’s fortunes with nine wins, two draws, and two defeats from his 13 games in charge, to lift United from seventh to third and the brink of Champions League qualification.
“It was difficult at the beginning because Michael came in and I got injured, so I missed a few games at the beginning. But he was brilliant with me, saying, ‘I want you back, you’re a massive part of the squad, and when you’re around the lads, you obviously have a big effect’.
“So I know where I stand within the group, and to be back around the lads, mentally ready to come on to affect the game, that’s super important for me.”
Mount says Carrick, together with his coaching staff led by Steve Holland, formerly Gareth Southgate’s England No 2 and assistant to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, has been instrumental to the turnaround.
“Speaking to Michael, (you understand) his knowledge of the game and his tactics. Having Steve along with him, who I already knew before, and bringing Jonathan Woodgate in, they were all people with major experience in the game. Jonny Evans as well.
“There is so much experience within the group now. Steve has won the Champions League and been a part of big, big teams. (Champions League qualification) is not done yet, but we need to carry on, and I think that we’re in a really good place now.”
Would it be as simple as giving Carrick the permanent job once United confirm Champions League qualification? “It’s not my call, I don’t know what happens,” Mount says. “But from my point of view, he’s been brilliant, speaking to me, I really like the way he works, the way he sees the game.
“We’ll see what happens, but you can see the way we play and how we’ve performed since he’s been in, and the position we’re in now, and we’re really pushing on.
“If you look back at the overall season, there were a few games here and there that if they went our way, we would even be higher. Yes, it’s been up and down, but I think we showed the character of the team to keep kicking on. Even in big games when we’ve probably been written off a little, we’ve come up with massive performances.”
It sounds like Mount feels United are close to a genuine title challenge. “Yeah, I think we have the quality to,” he says. “We haven’t had loads of games this season, so maybe it’s been easier. Next season we have a lot more games, but that’s what you want as a player. That’s what you want as a big club. You need big games: Old Trafford, Champions League under the lights, having that pressure of performing and winning games. It’s so important, and that’s what we love as players. The fans deserve it.”
Mount is detailed in his praise of Holland, who led training sessions under Southgate as England reached European Championship finals in 2021, when Mount started versus Italy, and in 2024. “I hadn’t seen him in a while,” Mount says. “He worked at Chelsea and I worked with him at England. He knows so much about football. He’s got such a football brain, a lot of experience.
Holland is a “special person”, says Mount (Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
“He brings that kind of calm confidence. If he sees something, he’ll know what to say, and he’s not afraid to say it. In training for the first or second game that they took charge, he was taking a team-talk in training or a huddle, and he was saying about the game tomorrow, ‘Look, we’re going to win.’ That was the confidence from day one. ‘We’re going to win these games. We know we need to be in a position that we’re not in yet’. But the focus was the next game.”
Carrick started with back-to-back wins over Manchester City and Arsenal. Mount adds on Holland: “There are probably not many in world football who have his resume and his experience. He’s a special person and within football, he goes under the radar maybe a little bit. He’s not at the forefront, but he’s someone who is very tactically astute and knows exactly what he wants to see.
“He’s always there to give the gaffer a few tips on positioning, or if he sees someone who maybe needs to be changed, he will come in and say it. They’re always talking. The last game (against Brentford), I’m on the bench and the gaffer will come back and speak to Steve and get (the coaches’) opinions on things. They’re always communicating, which is super important. As players, we need to communicate as well, and it’s been very clear, everyone knows what they need to do.”
As far as Mount is concerned, he knows he needs to stay fit and produce the form he showed in autumn and early winter, when at one stage he scored three goals in four starts. He has played 932 minutes this season, only having one period out injured in February, compared to 962 last season when the fixture list was much longer, and 756 in his debut campaign.
“I haven’t been able to get that rhythm with the injuries and the setbacks,” he concedes. “If I look back at this season, yes, I’ve missed games, but nowhere near as much as the season before or my first season. So it’s definitely been a step in the right direction.
“Of course, as a player, first of all, I want to be available and if that’s taken away from me, it’s really tough to deal with. I’m in a really good position now to kick on. Once we finish these games, then it’s straight away focus on next season, how I can improve and really be a part.”
Mount’s versatility could be especially useful when United have European fixtures to manage. “There are going to be a lot more games next season,” he says. “I will always back myself. I know what I’m about and know what I can bring, especially to the group. I’m a bit older now, I’ve got more experience.”
Mount now feels comfortable enough in United’s squad to poke fun at Bruno Fernandes. In the dressing room at Old Trafford after the Brentford game, Mount joked to Fernandes that there would have been no chance of him passing to Benjamin Sesko for United’s second goal had the Premier League assist record not been within view. Fernandes is now on 19, one behind Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. For his part, Fernandes, who does not bring up the record himself, laughed off Mount’s assertion, insisting he went for the best option.
Whether Mount becomes an option for England again depends on his form for United. Thomas Tuchel has an array of talent to choose from in Mount’s position, but the pair also share history, winning the Champions League with Chelsea.
Mount says of Tuchel: “He gets to a few games, so I’ve spoken to him a few times after the game. I know my relationship with Thomas. He knows me as a player, as a person, inside out. I was probably close at one point to getting in and then I had a little setback, and then it’s the momentum. It kind of pushes you back and you are trying to chase it.
“I’ve got 36 caps for England. I always want to get back in the squad. It’s the pinnacle of being a player to represent your country at a major tournament. I will be working extremely hard in the off-season to put myself in a great position to get back in the squad.”
Lifting major silverware with United is the first task. “I’ve had a little taste of winning something with the club, with the FA Cup. It was an amazing feeling, but to do a Premier League? I can’t even imagine how special that would be.”
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