Manchester United’s prolonged pursuit of Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount highlights a long-term transfer problem that Gary Neville expressed his concern over.
United were unsuccessful in their third bid for the Blues midfielder on Friday with each of the three offers knocked back by Chelsea. United's latest offer for the England international was £55million, but the Blues are holding out for £65m (£58m up front, £7m in add-ons).
The 24-year-old has expressed a clear preference over a switch to Old Trafford but United’s process of signing him is now becoming a protracted one. Reports have suggested the Red Devils would walk away if their third bid was rejected and rowing back on that decision may undermine them publicly.
Erik ten Hag has four alternatives to signing Mount that he has detailed to the club and while the England international is their first choice target in the position, many fans now believe that the club would be better moving on to other targets.
This situation now risks replicating the club’s pursuit of Frenkie de Jong last year. While that transfer saga saw United clinch a deal with Barcelona rather than the player, it was a prolonged process that dominated their summer window and ultimately ended without the player signing.
United transfer chiefs are wary of a similar process over this summer window and while Mount has already verbally agreed to move to Old Trafford, the nature of the negotiation process with Chelsea is not one that is pleasing the club’s fanbase.
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This is something that was reflected last summer by the club’s former defender Neville, who outlined how United were now regularly involved in drawn-out transfer sagas that did not reflect favourably on the club’s recruitment chiefs – with a similar scenario again this year.
"I think every Manchester United fan is a little bit tired of us,” Neville told the Overlap last summer. “I said this about Sancho and it's the same now with De Jong.
“It gets to the point where a signing that should give excitement for the club becomes dragged on for too long, it drags on that long that, in the end, you actually lose excitement for the signing.
"It almost becomes a little bit of an embarrassment — and it's still happening. So, I'm really concerned about the fact that they can't get signings over the line still."
