With so many new faces arriving at Chelsea during the summer transfer window, it was perhaps inevitable that rumours would surface of players being unhappy.
As so often happens when teams acquire new signings, those who had previously felt comfortable in their role will often feel threatened.
The Daily Mirror cite a report in German daily, Bild, that said Mason Mount was ‘unhappy’ about Kai Havertz’s arrival.
However, that notion was given short shrift by the player’s father, who responded to Bild journalist, Christian Falk’s tweet on the subject with multiple laughing faces and the word ‘bull.’
????????????????????????????????????Bull?
— Tony Mount (@Mounty57) September 6, 2020
In his pre-match press conference for the match against Brighton, Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, also gave his two-penneth on the story and how he’ll be picking his team in general.
“I saw the story about Mason Mount and I know it was absolutely fabricated from someone, particularly if it came from the German end,” he said in quotes obtained by the Daily Mirror.
“I am not sure if he has any relatives out there or friends he can talk to, but it was a strange angle for that to have come from Mason.
“What I do know is with the young players who have got into the team, and the way football is at a club like Chelsea, if you are a young player who has a foot in and the club bring in a player who you hope raises levels, then the player should, and hopefully will raise their levels and everybody improves.
“I will be fair on how I pick the team. I won’t pick the team on whether you came from the academy, I will pick the team on how I think it should be picked every week, how they train and how they have been performing.
“Everybody should be positive going into the season, training as well as they can and then worry about the unity of the squad and how we go as a team.”
One thing that Mount can be assured of is that there is now genuine competition for places.
So, happy or otherwise, he and every other player in the Chelsea squad will have to show some Lampard-esque consistency if they want a guaranteed spot in the starting line-up every week.