Mason Mount’s extension is further proof of change at Chelsea

Mason Mount has picked up a brand new five year deal. His extension is proof of change at Chelsea going forward past the transfer ban.

Two years left on a young player’s contract is a long time in relative terms. So much can change so quickly for young players that clubs have little incentive to extend a contract until it starts to run below the 18 month mark.

That is why it is noteworthy that the Blues have handed Mason Mount a five year contract at this particular moment. There was no real rush but Chelsea offered him the contract regardless. It is another sign of changing times at Stamford Bridge.

Mount is a known unknown. The club knows what he is capable of and they know his potential but there is still the lack of Premier League experience to address. The last player who was in a similar position but saw a long extension at a young age was Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The club took far too long to give Loftus-Cheek his route to first team football with Chelsea and no one was there to join him. That is very much not going to be the case this season.

The Blues are looking inward in a way that has not been done for decades. Part of it is enforced because of the transfer ban, but part of it is a genuine desire to have a club culture once again. Chelsea has not felt like Chelsea for some time now and part of that has been the lack of connection to their own.

Frank Lampard was the first step in changing that. Not only has he returned, but most of his staff is returning Chelsea staffers or promotions from within. The Blues have spent so long looking for staffing solutions from the outside that they ignored the quality they had inside.

That is also where the younger players come in. Loftus-Cheek is on the older end of “young” but he paved the way for the more recent crop of Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Tammy Abraham, Ethan Ampadu and more. Now Mount is helping to lay down that foundation.

Mount’s extension shows Chelsea’s growing faith in their own. Yes, it cannot be separated from the specter of the transfer ban but that does not make it any less true to what the Blues want to be now.

Hopefully, Mount’s extension is just one of many given to the young, most promising players rising through the ranks of Chelsea. The Telegraph believes the spot light now shifts back to Hudson-Odoi. He can jump on the changing Blues or he can move on to somewhere else. But the excuse of the pathway being absent is no longer there.

It started with Lampard and his staff and it has trickled down to the players. Chelsea is changing in a way that has fans excited again. Players will need to decide if they are in with the new Chelsea or would rather try their luck elsewhere. Regardless, a new Chelsea will emerge in short order.