Graeme Souness has claimed he wouldn’t start Chelsea’s Mason Mount in the England starting XI at the World Cup..
Unsurprisingly, Mount was included in England’s 26-man squad earlier this week for the World Cup in Qatar. He was joined by Chelsea teammates Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling, too.
Mount’s form hasn’t been at its glittering best this campaign, albeit there’s been some really positive signs since Graham Potter took charge as manager at Stamford Bridge mid-season.
The 23-year-old attacking midfielder has proven in recent years what a top-class player he can be.
Also, he actually brings a decent amount of international experience to the table with 32 senior England caps.
Souness wouldn’t start Mount
Despite his admiration for Mount, Souness admits he would not pick the Chelsea ace in his England starting line-up for the World Cup.
He thinks Leicester City’s playmaker James Maddison, who is back in the Three Lions squad after a three-year exile, deserves to start in Qatar.
Souness thinks Leicester’s creative star has the edge over his Chelsea counterpart if you compare the duo over the past year.
“Mount is a fabulous young player but in the past year Maddison has had the edge at Leicester. He would get in my starting line-up ahead of Mount,” he told the Daily Mail.
There’s going to be plenty of debate from now until England’s opening group game against Iran on 21 November about who Gareth Southgate should start.
Alan Shearer weighed in on the debate yesterday by saying he would pick Mount in his starting XI.
Chelsea fans will hope Mount can sign off with a bang before the World Cup break in today’s game.
The Blues travel to St James’ Park on Saturday to face a Newcastle United side above them in the Premier League table.
There’s no doubt this is a really important league game for Potter’s side, so they need all their World Cup stars to be at their best and play without fear of injury on the eve of the tournament.
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