Mason Mount has officially become Manchester United’s first signing of the 2023 summer window and his dad, Tony, played a major role to make it happen. It was the first transfer agreement between Chelsea and United since 2014, and it wasn’t an easy one.
The Red Devils started to be linked with a move for the Englishman from the end of the 2022/23 Premier League season. The midfielder agreed, but the stumbling block was Chelsea’s demands to let him leave.
Despite seeing him only have one year remaining on his contract, the Blues weren’t going to let him go for cheap. They rejected the first two offers from the Manchester Reds, demanding at least £60m-£65m to consider the sale.
Tony Mount’s role in Mason’s Manchester United move explained
At one point, it appeared that United were ready to walk away from the deal. But then, enter Tony Mount. The father of the 24-year-old England international never got close to a professional career himself. Irrespective of that, he’s been an avid follower of his son’s career and acted as a mentor for him.
In fact, Tony even reportedly warned his son about staying at Chelsea when he was 15. The Englishman cited the club’s history of not giving too many opportunities to youth graduates under Roman Abramovich. Mason, however, was adamant about making it big at the club – which he ultimately did.
But when it appeared that his story with the London side was over, Tony played his part to help his son take a step forward. As per The Athletic, he might’ve been the one to save the United move from falling apart.
Just as it looked like the Red Devils were going to walk away, Tony held a phone call with Chelsea’s co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. In this, he helped smoothen the agreement with Erik ten Hag’s side and convince the owners to come to a compromise for the deal to go through.
This was amidst tensions being spilt between Mount’s camp and the Chelsea decision-makers. The 24-year-old had changed his agent to appoint the Roof agency’s Neil Fewings as his representative just before the end of last season. This irked the club, who dug their heels at valuing him at £70 million.
As things reached a boiling point, Tony came up as the calm head. He convinced the London side to help his son get his dream move and lower their valuation of him to around £55 million in the end.
Mason’s dad had actually been working behind the scenes for this deal for many months. He was reportedly attending United’s games at Old Trafford towards the end of the previous campaign and guided the process of his move to the club.
Chelsea fans slam Tony Mount
Despite being the apparent ‘saviour’ of this deal, Tony Mount isn’t really the most popular figure in the Chelsea fanbase. A lot of fans have blamed him for persuading his son to leave the club and for the source of Mason’s ‘greediness’.
Some are actually thankful to Tony for getting this deal over the line and getting his son out of the club for a substantial profit. With all the drama out of the way, Mason Mount will now embark on a new journey at Old Trafford and must perform at the highest level to bring justice to his receiving the iconic No. 7 jersey.
The Manchester giants’ decision-makers, however, will probably need to learn from this entire operation and be extra careful in keeping Tony Mount satisfied to ensure his son stays happy too.