The reasons why Mason Mount’s contract talks with Chelsea broke apart and the club and player tell different stories.
Mason Mount’s sale is the most divisive transfer Chelsea have done this summer – and as is often the case, the club’s and the player’s sides tell different stories as to why it did not work out between them, as told by The Athletic.
Last summer, Chelsea owners – including Todd Boehly – and Mount started contract talks, with two years left on the player’s existing deal.
Mount always asked to be paid in line with the highest earners, while the club revised their contract strategy after giving big deals to Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.
Reece James was given a six-year deal with a clause that would see his wage decrease if Chelsea miss out on the top four. This was the club’s benchmark for Mount.
The talks were not smooth: Mount’s camp insists the first offer a £30,000 per week increase on his base salary which the club denies.
Still, a sort of a breakthrough was achieved in November before Mount departed for the World Cup.
After Mount returned, his father Tony was surprised when the negotiations were taken over by sporting director Paul Winstanley. Moreover, the offer on which the sides appeared to agree was off the table.
At this point, neither side was convinced of the full commitment to the talks. Mount felt Chelsea were preparing for a sale, a feeling that was strengthened when a one-year offer was made in February with a ₤70m release clause. It was viewed as a ploy to increase his price and was rejected out of hand.
The club believed the player’s side prolonged the talks while looking at other options. They had to make a call to avoid losing Mount for free like they did Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.
In reality, neither side hoped to reach an agreement after that point. It led to Mason Mount being announced as a new Man United player on July 5.
