Reported Liverpool target Mason Mount has turned down contract offers of almost £250k-a-week from Chelsea.
That’s according to The Athletic this morning. They claim that Mount has been offered terms ‘in the region’ of what top earner Reece James signed recently.
However, claims that the 24-year-old is looking for closer to £300k-a-week have been dismissed as being ‘not true.’
Whatever Mount is demanding though, Chelsea are clearly yet to meet it. According to The Athletic, the sticking point of the contract may not be purely down to basic wage, though. They report that the matter is ‘complicated’ by things like image rights, bonuses and length of contract.
The latter in particular appears to be a big stumbling block. Although Mount is said to have ‘made it his priority’ to stay at Chelsea, he reportedly doesn’t fancy an eight-year deal, which appears to have been proposed.
As a result, talks are now claimed to have been ‘put on hold’ until the summer. Should an agreement still fail to materialise, Mount will then be put on the market, with ‘a number of teams’ said to be interested.
Mount aiming for Anfield compromise
As per Spotrac, James currently takes home £250k-a-week at Chelsea. The fact that Mount has rejected similar is not particularly encouraging in terms of Liverpool’s pursuit of him.
Using information from the same source, the Reds top earner right now is, obviously, Mohamed Salah. Last weekend hammered home the point that the Egyptian is a special case at Anfield, though. His reported £350k-a-week is a bit of an outlier at the club.
Virgil van Dijk is seemingly the next highest paid player, taking home £220k-a-week. Clearly, there’s absolutely no way Liverpool would pay Mason Mount anything like what they’re paying their No.4, and nor should they.
As a result, we can only conclude that the 24-year-old would have to lower his demands quite significantly to secure a move to Liverpool. Over recent weeks, the likelihood of such a transfer appears to have become far greater. Various reports have suggested Anfield as a potential destination for Mount.
If that’s to come to fruition, a compromise may have to be reached. But with there being no chance of such a long contract on offer at Anfield, maybe that won’t be such a big issue. Let’s see where his goes next.