In the game before the international break against Burnley, Mason Mount was taken off at halftime due to injury, raising doubts among fans about his prospects because the 26-year-old England player has had several serious injuries causing long absences. However, British media revealed that Mount’s injury this time might not be serious; both he and Cunha are expected to participate in the Manchester derby away game against City in mid-month. Nevertheless, given Mount’s injury history, coach Ruben Amorim may use him with caution.

Cunha has already begun an accelerated recovery; his updated training reports show no issues with his legs, and he is expected to resume full team training after the international players return this week, recovering faster than planned. As for Mount, the team doctor diagnosed his injury as minor. Amorim substituted him at halftime as a precaution. Recently, Mount has mainly been doing strength training and rehabilitation in the gym while also working on restoring his physical fitness.

Two years ago, Manchester United spent £60 million to sign Mount from Chelsea despite him having only one year left on his contract, which puzzled fans. What’s even more baffling is that both Ten Hag and later Ruben Amorim have shown great appreciation for this 25-year-old English midfielder.

It is said that Ten Hag wanted to sign Mount as early as when he was loaned to Vitesse in the Eredivisie, and finally achieved this after taking charge at Manchester United. After Amorim arrived at United, the first player he embraced was also Mount. His status shows one thing: the players favored by the coach are not always the ones loved by the fans.

When Mount was at his peak, for example five years ago during the 2020 European Championship preparations, the England team viewed him as the opposite type to Grealish. Grealish is a genius with natural talent and unpredictable solo performances, whereas Mount provides consistent team contributions as a system player.

Just like his mentor Frank Lampard, Mount excels at executing the coach’s tactical plans. He has tactical awareness and intelligence, can understand how to implement different systems, knows how to find and create space on the pitch, and can activate his teammates to perform at their best.

In the first few matches of this season, Manchester United fans saw Mount’s brilliance again. Similar to the Europa League final last season, despite the Red Devils spending £200 million on players like Shesko, Mbemo, and Cunha, Mount still secured a spot in the starting lineup and performed well, making many understand why all the coaches value him. Amorim is one of them; he even sacrificed Ganacho, who contributed greatly to United reaching the Europa League final, to prioritize Mount.

Therefore, when the €85 million striker Shesko only participated in a week of preseason training, Mount was given a starting role. Amorim positioned Cunha as a false nine, with Mount on the left wing—one of his best positions, especially during Tuchel’s Chelsea tenure. Interestingly, in the Premier League opener between United and Arsenal where Mount performed excellently, Tuchel watched from the stands at Old Trafford as England’s national coach.

Under Amorim’s management, only three players in the team had a higher than average percentage of playing in a three-center-back system, with Mount being one of them, along with Ugarte and Hojlund. Among these three, although Ugarte previously played under Amorim, currently only Mount still enjoys the coach’s full trust.

One of Mount’s biggest roles is his ability to position himself between the opponent’s two defensive lines to receive the ball, helping his team maintain possession. In the Premier League opener, when he received the ball, Arsenal’s Gabriel gestured in dissatisfaction, questioning why no teammate was marking Mount.

After gaining possession, Mount also has the ability to deliver deadly passes. In home matches against Arsenal and Burnley, fans at the Theatre of Dreams enjoyed his through balls to Mbemo. This recalls the 2021 Champions League final when Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0, where Mount assisted Havertz’s winning goal and was ultimately named the final’s MVP.

Mount can also make wide switches of play, passing the ball to attackers on the weak side, which is a classic tactic in Amorim’s system—attacking on one side and quickly switching to the other, creating numerical advantages with the No. 10 (Mbemo) and wing-back (Diogo Dalot). The interplay between inside forwards and wing-backs is the essence of the 3-4-3 system, and Mount has the overall vision to control this scenario.

Besides the opposite side, he can also coordinate runs and passes with the wing-back on his own side. Whether it’s Patrick Dogu, Luke Shaw, or Dalot, he forms a good understanding with his teammates.

In the match against Fulham, after a wall pass with Dogu on the left flank, Mount received the ball near the penalty area and immediately passed it to Cunha, whose shot hit the post—a classic example of this role.

This summer, Manchester United signed three outstanding individual attackers, but the team, despite signing many excellent players in the decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, has generally lacked cohesion. Mount is a system player who helps his teammates perform better. This is why the coach prefers to use him.

It is worth mentioning that although Mount is a Chelsea academy product, his Premier League debut six years ago was at the Theatre of Dreams, where Chelsea suffered a heavy 0-4 defeat. Despite a decent performance, the £60 million man’s experience at Manchester United seems to have been fraught with difficulties.

For Mount, the most important thing is to stay healthy: two years after transferring from Chelsea to Manchester United, he has yet to play a full 90 minutes for the Red Devils in the Premier League. The injury against Burnley was his sixth since joining United, including two long-term injuries that kept him out for nearly 100 days and more than 20 matches.

No matter how strong or influential a player is, once physical problems arise and they cannot consistently appear on the pitch, they lose their value. Even the "alien" Ronaldo, who is many times more capable than Mount, could not escape the toll of injuries.

If Mount continues on this injury-prone path, he may become another Owen Hargreaves. Although frequently injured, Hargreaves at least brought United a Premier League and Champions League double, while Mount risks being labeled a flop.