The story of Mason Mount and his contract situation at Chelsea is far more complex than some people might think.
With Mount now on his way to Manchester United, after the Red Devils and Chelsea agreed on a £60 million deal, months and months of contract negotiations have proven to solve nothing. It is easy from the outside to think if the contract situation isn't resolved quickly and things are dragging on, then it might be because the player is asking for too much money. However, in this case, there is much more to it.
A source told football.london that just before the FIFA World Cup that took place last year, Mount was optimistic an agreement could be reached. In fact, there was an understanding to see eye-to-eye on an agreement with Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, where imaging rights - which have proved to be a big obstacle in negotiations - were agreed on.
READ MORE: Chelsea and Manchester United reach £60m transfer agreement for Mason Mount
Chelsea and Mount finally looked as if they had compromised somewhat to extend the 24-year-old's stay at the club. The Blues were eager themselves once such a compromise was made with the player and his representatives.
Once the World Cup was over, with England going out at the quarter-final stage to France, meetings then started taking place again. But with a new-look transfer team, with the likes of Paul Winstanley, Joe Shields and Christopher Vivell in place, there was a slightly different structure to how the club were operating behind the scenes, with Boehly and Eghbali taking somewhat of a step back from the day-to-day stuff.
Mount and his entourage thought they were close to an agreement and extending the deal, but when he arrived back from the World Cup, the offer was no longer on the table. Things at this point looked dead, until the January transfer window came around and there was another big development.
On multiple occasions between the end of January and the start of February they wanted to extend Mount and see his salary increase. However, that was not of interest to the player, signing a one-year deal.
Now, fast-forward to the last couple of months or so, and Boehly held a meeting with Mount to discuss what is going on and just to check in on the player more than anything. However, no contract offer has been made since the prospect of extending his deal by a further 12 months.
When Graham Potter was sacked, Chelsea immediately began their search for a new permanent head coach. Julian Nagelsmann was an early front-runner, before talks with Mauricio Pochettino began. It was demanded by two managers, including Pochettino, that Mount needed to stay and he was part of their plans, so in that respect Chelsea were somewhat re-upping their efforts to keep the England international.
Popular player agent, Neil Fewings, was brought in to try and help improve the situation because Mount still wanted to stay at Chelsea. But no breakthrough was made.
Mount definitely looked emotional as he walked around the Stamford Bridge pitch for what is set to be the last time as a Chelsea player last month. He will switch Stamford Bridge for Old Trafford after what can only be described as one hell of a saga.
