Frank Lampard finally opened up about his final days at Chelsea and revealed why he made Mason Mount the club’s captain.
Mason Mount has a very special relationship with Frank Lampard, they shared time at Derby County in the manager’s debut. During that time, the young playmaker proved he had the potential to someday play for Chelsea. When the time came for Frank to take command of the Blues, he didn’t hesitate to bring Mount with him. The young England international is a diehard Chelsea product that has a unique connection with the institution. He also revealed many times before that he grew up watching Lampard’s heroics at the club.
On the last day of Lampard as the club’s coach, he decided to make Mason the team’s captain. But even after that, the lad managed to remain as one of Chelsea’s top players when Thomas Tuchel arrived. This means that Frank Lampard wasn’t mistaken for allowing Mount to keep his position inside the starting eleven. In a recent Q&A, he revealed the reason behind his predilection for Mount.
Lampard deeply admires Mount.
“A nice feeling when I left Chelsea in my last game was that I made Mason captain,” said Lampard at a Q&A at the Willow Foundation ahead of the London Football Awards as reported by Goal. “It wasn’t a gesture because I didn’t know I was leaving! But it was about his authority and standing in the group that had risen. He needed to see that and understand that. He needs to rise up. The minute I gave him the armband, I saw the look on his face and what it meant to him. That’s something you get when you bring through academy players and fans love it. They have been fighting with desire since they were eight years old. That’s tangible and something that’s important.
“You won’t always see it at 20 because they might have dips in confidence or moments in games that come. But when you have players who have that care, then it doesn’t matter who the manager is. The desire they have themselves will carry though because they work so hard. When I left Chelsea, and this is no disrespect to the manager who has come in, but I would have put my house that they would think, ‘Wow Mason Mount trains every day like a champion. He works off the ball and sets the press, has great quality, is improving all the time and now he is adding goals to his game.’ That’s the end of Mason Mount but as you can see, I like him a lot! I probably said enough about him because people used to say he was my son, but I’ll be quiet there.”
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