Mason Mount believes any comparisons
with England team-mate Jack Grealish are unwarranted and insists the
pair could play together in the same side.
Plenty of supporters were clamouring for Aston Villa captain Grealish
to start the two Nations League games last month after he made his full
debut in the win over Wales.
Mount took some criticism on social media purely by being named in
Gareth Southgate’s side instead of Grealish, who has been in fine club
form this season.
Chelsea forward Mount responded by scoring the winning goal as
England beat Belgium, the best-ranked team in the world, at Wembley on
11 October.
But that was soon forgotten as Denmark would secure a shock victory
over the Three Lions just three days later to leave England’s hopes of
qualifying for the Nations League finals in serious doubt.
They face a friendly against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday
night before travelling to face Belgium, with the final Group A2 tie at
home to Iceland still in limbo due to new coronavirus measures in
Denmark.
With plenty of selection headaches to ponder for Southgate, Mount
feels it should not be a straight shoot-out between Grealish and himself
for a spot in the team.
“I spoke about Jack the last camp,” he said.
“Obviously we all know what he can do but I think everyone’s always
going have an opinion and say stuff but we have massive focus on our
games.
“There’s all different players in this squad who can play in different positions. That is the kind of squad that’s been picked.
“Players that can be played in higher positions and in deeper positions. That’s the focus of the squad.
“So the comparisons (with Grealish) are not just I don’t think. Me
and Jack do different things, along with all the other attacking players
and midfielders.
“Hopefully we can all work together, as I said, over the next three
games especially and we can play together and do the best we can.”
Mount, who has played a total of 32 minutes alongside Grealish for
England, went on to say that the pair are not rivals as he hailed his
compatriot’s performances so far this season.
“I’d never look at it as a rivalry,” he added.
“We are two different players and we do different things, so I’d
never look at it as a rivalry. We are two team-mates who play for the
same country.
“We want to do the best for each other, for the team and for the
country as well. We are kind of different players. We can play in
different roles. I look at the way he’s been playing this season, he’s
been unbelievable and we both want to bring that to the next three games
coming up.”
– TEAMtalk media
