Chelsea: POTS acknowledges what has been known for two years

Why do clubs like Chelsea care about youth and the academy? There are the pragmatic reasons like how it is far cheaper to develop your own talent rather than buying someone else’s. Obviously the team needs so many homegrown and club trained players for roster compliance.

But then there is the moment where a kid who has been at the club since their age was a single digit, walking out on to the pitch at Stamford Bridge. There is something that is simply intangible about “one of our own”, both from the players point of view and the fans point of view.

Mason Mount has won his first player of the year award for Chelsea. First is the key word there, because it will not be his last. This award comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched matches in the last two years. It simply acknowledges something that has been known the entire time he’s been with the first team: Mount is going to be Chelsea’s best player. Then, now, and later.

It hasn’t been a straight path for Mount, and it has hardly been a guaranteed one. There is this odd notion that his ascension was inevitable and, maybe from his side of things, it always was. It is also worth remembering that when he made his first start for Chelsea, he was fresh out of the Championship and was largely among the first academy stars since John Terry to have made that sort of leap.

It wasn’t always pretty in the opening matches. He looked what he was, a young player that still had a lot to learn. Many, without anything smarter to say, said he only started because of Frank Lampard. But one thing that could always be said about Mount (that can rarely be said about many of the senior players) is that he leaves everything he has on the pitch. Mount’s commitment and tenacity have never been a topic of debate.

When Kai Havertz signed for Chelsea, many thought that would be the end of the Mount experiment. They were, of course, wrong. Mount did not wilt in light of the signing. He somehow dug in and worked even harder. Havertz had to settle for playing with Mount rather than instead of him.

Thomas Tuchel’s arrival again sparked a similar notion. The boo boys believed it would be the end of Mount’s “free ride”. Being dropped for the first match against Wolves surely bolstered that claim. But, again, Mount just dug deeper. He came on as a sub and was immediately the best player of the match. For Tuchel, like Lampard, Mount has been the best player. The boo boys have had to change their argument from “Mount is getting a free ride” to “he improved so much under Tuchel”. The truth of the matter is that it was simply the same Mount we had seen all season. The same Mount we’ve seen for two years.

Mount very much represents all the intangibles that an academy player brings to their club. Yes, there are more talented players. But like the legend Lampard he is always compared to (even though it doesn’t quite fit), Mount makes up for a lack of talent with an immense drive to work harder and prove himself again. That’s not something that can be taught.

Mateo Kovacic won POTS last year and rightfully so. But without Mount, the very soul of what Chelsea is supposed to be seems to be missing. He’s the tip of the spear, the first to press, the first to find space, the first to ask for the ball. He’s everything you’d want in a Chelsea player.

This was Mount’s first POTS award. It will not be his last. He is the new Mr. Chelsea, as if there were any doubt. That was clear even back during his struggles at the start of last season. He has simply been given the acknowledgement of what was always clear.