Chelsea: Mason Mount and Matt Miazga are ready for more
By Travis Tyler
Mason Mount and Matt Miazga were Chelsea’s star performers at Vitesse last season. Both are ready for more next season, whether at Chelsea or elsewhere.
Chelsea have been loaning several players to Vitesse each season for years now. There have been varying degrees of success before and after a Chelsea player has been at Vitesse. But Mason Mount and Matt Miazga have put in some of the best performances of any loanee sent to the Netherlands. Both have proven that they are ready for a greater challenge.
Mason Mount is undoubtedly the most exciting of the two. Lewis Baker was great at Vitesse, but Mount is on another level. It becomes even more impressive considering that it was his first season playing professional football.
Mount chalked up an impressive 3,004 minutes last season, scoring 13 goals and assisting another 10 along the way. For context, Lewis Baker’s best season at Vitesse say him score 15 goals with 7 assists in 3,430 minutes. That was in Baker’s second season in the Netherlands and he had already had professional experience in League One before that.
To make things even more impressive, Mount did not break through immediately. It took until November for him to crack into the starting lineup and he did so through the Europa League. Vitesse will return to the competition next season (as will Chelsea of course), but he is ready for more than the Eredivisie can offer.
Farther back on the pitch was Matt Miazga. Miazga took time to break into Vitesse, but last season he was almost entirely seen as a starter. His technical ability improved by leaps and bounds, as did his leadership and his calmness in defense.
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This was best showcased not in Vitesse colors, but in American ones. Miazga recently played in a friendly with the United States against France’s best team. America has been experimenting with youth since failing to qualify for the World Cup, so the lineup was incredibly young and inexperienced. France played their best team including Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud and N’Golo Kante.
By all accounts, America should have been blown out of the water. And were it not for Miazga, they surely would have been. Miazga led the Americans back three and expertly held off the elite French attack. When Miazga and Giroud clashed heads and both went off, the drop in quality from the Americans was clear. Miazga had very much looked like the best player for the US and did not look intimidated by the attackers he was facing.
Both of these players have outgrown the Eredivisie. Loans to the Bundesliga or the Premier League would not be out of place. There are rumors that both have already attracted interest from those very leagues.
Or there is another option. Chelsea will see many players returning late for preseason because for the World Cup. In the meantime, the remaining players have an open path to make their case. Both Mount and Miazga can earn a spot at Chelsea during preseason. Neither would be out of place in Blue, but neither would be ready to be anything more than a bench or rotation option.
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Chelsea will need to decide what is best for Mount and Miazga’s development. Steadier playing time elsewhere or inconsistent playing time at Chelsea. Both players have outgrown the level they were on at it is up to Chelsea to challenge them more going forward.