Frank Lampard has admitted he is powerless to influence Mason Mount's future at Chelsea.
Mount’s Chelsea contract expires next summer and, as it stands, the two parties are no closer to reaching an agreement over an extension. The midfielder’s representatives, it is claimed, want a contract that reflects his significance to the club.
Liverpool are known admirers of the player who, aged 24 and qualifying as homegrown, fits the profile required by both Fenway Sports Group and the recruitment team as they look to overhaul Jurgen Klopp's engine room in the summer.
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And speaking about the England international's future at Stamford Bridge, Lampard has revealed he is powerless to influence the contract negotiations in his role as caretaker manager.
He said: "I don’t know the answer to that [if Mount has played his last Chelsea game], it’s a conversation between Mason and the club, so I don’t know. It’s not final at this point and we’ll have to see because those conversations are ongoing.
"It’s a shame for me personally because I think everyone knows how I feel about working with Mason and I like to think he feels the same about me, and we could have done with him in the games we’ve played already this season.
“But the bigger picture is something that's going to become clearer in the next weeks and months, and that will be the club and Mason together having conversations.”
Lampard added: “At this point, it's not my opinion that will be the resolution. It will be the opinion of the club and the opinion of Mason, so that's between them.
“I think my opinion's pretty clear, I don't need to spell it out what I think of Mason as a player, but it’s not my one to get into, that’s between them."
The interim boss also said: “There’s no doubt Mason is a top-class player with what he brings the team in and out of possession. Form will always waver slightly but the top players manage to gain great consistency and he’s been Chelsea Player of the Year in a couple of seasons with a lot of top players around him.
"People think it’s easy to play with top players around you. It’s not easy and he’s managed to do that.”
Mount is set to miss the rest of this season's run-in with Chelsea after having surgery on a pelvic problem.
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