Manchester United
Premier League • England
Mason Mount: Comparing his Premier League stats with the other Manchester United midfielders
Manchester United have completed the £55million signing of Mason Mount – but will he improve Erik ten Hag’s squad? We’ve had a look at his stats to find out.
Mount came through Chelsea’s academy and went on to make 195 appearances for the club, most notably winning the Champions League in 2021.
He also won their Player of the Year award in 2020/21 and 2021/22 before struggling in a poor Chelsea team in 2022/23.
The 24-year-old rejected their offer of a new contract and decided to pursue a new challenge at Old Trafford, where he will earn over £200,000-per-week.
He now looks set to replace Christian Eriksen at the heart of United’s midfield and would play alongside Bruno Fernandes, who is a big fan of the England international.
“For example, I really like Mason Mount,” Fernandes told United’s official website in 2021 when quizzed about the Premier League’s best players.
“He’s been consistent from the beginning of the season but, if people will watch numbers, he’s not had so many goals as other players or assists as other players but, for me, as a performance he’s been really, really top.”
Using stats from Whoscored, we’ve taken a look into Mount’s Premier League stats from last season and compared his numbers to Casemiro, Eriksen, Scott McTominay, Fred and Fernandes.
Note: we’ve not included Donny van de Beek due to his lack of Premier League minutes in 2022/23.
Goals and assists
Fernandes rediscovered his best form in 2022/23 and registered eight goals and eight assists in the Premier League at a rate of one every 207.5 minutes.
While Eriksen was United’s joint-top assist maker alongside Fernandes, he only scored one Premier League goal last season and averaged a direct goal contribution every 229.1 minutes.
Despite being renowned for his defensive work, Casemiro chipped in with four goals and three assists during his debut season in the Premier League. The 31-year-old’s minutes per goal involvement ratio was 303.7 minutes.
Fred, who has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford, got four direct goal contributions (two goals and two assists) in 2022/23 and averaged one every 308.75 minutes.
Mount enjoyed his best-ever scoring season in 2021/22 but had a drop-off in goals and assists in 2022/23. He got just three goals and two assists in the league at a rate of one every 331.6 minutes.
McTominay didn’t register an assist during 1151 minutes of top-flight action last season but did find the back of the net in United’s 2-0 win over Everton at Old Trafford.
🔵➡🔴
Mason Mount is switching sides!#BBCFootball #FACup pic.twitter.com/xFxdiRWwwA
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 30, 2023
Shots, dribbles, and fouls won
Fernandes isn’t afraid to try his luck from distance and averaged 2.5 shots per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season.
Fred’s poor goal return wasn’t down to a lack of trying as he averaged 1.9 shots per 90 while Mount (1.8) and Eriksen (1.7) follow closely behind.
Unsurprisingly, the defensive midfielders are at the bottom of this list as Casemiro averaged 1.4 shots per 90 minutes and McTominay had one shot per 90.
But McTominay leads the way when it comes to dribbling, completing 1.0 successful dribbles per 90 minutes at a success rate of 50%.
Fernandes and Fred both averaged 0.9 dribbles per 90, although the Portugal international has a success rate of 50% and Fred’s completion rate was 37.5%.
Mount averaged 0.8 successful dribbles per 90 at a completion rate of 47.05% while Casemiro made 0.4 at a 44.4% success rate.
Eriksen then finds himself at the bottom of the pile, completing just 0.3 dribbles per 90 at the second-lowest success rate (42.8%).
Fred wins a lot of free-kicks for United and he comes out on top for fouls drawn (1.6 per 90 minutes). That puts him ahead of McTominay (1.3), Mount (1.1), Fernandes (1.1), Casemiro (1.0) and Eriksen (0.4).
Passing
Eriksen is renowned for his impressive composure on the ball and made 60.7 passes per 90 minutes during his debut season at United. That put him ahead of Casemiro (59.8), Fred (55.5), Fernandes (50.3), Mount (38.3) and McTominay (33.3).
The Denmark international also comes out on top for passing accuracy with a pass success rate of 84.6%. He’s then followed by McTominay (82.9%), Fred (80.7%), Mount (80.1%), Casemiro (78.5%) and Fernandes (77.7%).
But Fernandes takes a lot of risks and was the most creative player on this list, averaging 3.2 key passes per 90 minutes in the league.
Fred made 2.2 key passes per 90, which puts him in second place ahead of Mount (1.6), Eriksen (1.6), Casemiro (1.2) and McTominay (0.6).
Fernandes also made 0.6 through balls per league game and that is more than Casemiro (0.3), Mount (0.1), Eriksen (0.1), McTominay (0.1) and Fred (0.1) managed in 2022/23.
Defensive contributions
According to The Athletic, Mount is seen as a modern midfielder and Ten Hag has been impressed by his application off the ball.
The England international averaged 1.8 successful tackles per 90 minutes last season, which puts him level with Fernandes and above Eriksen (1.0).
But he’s still a long way behind Casemiro, who made 3.8 successful tackles per 90 in 2022/23. Fred (3.4) and McTominay (2.5) also completed more successful tackles per 90 than United’s new No.7.
In terms of interceptions, Casemiro and Fred lead the way with 1.4 per 90. McTominay is third with 1.1 and he’s then followed by Fernandes (0.7), Eriksen (0.5) and Mount (0.4).
McTominay comes out on top for clearances per 90 minutes. His total of 3.5 betters Casemiro’s 2.5, Fernandes’ 1.0, Eriksen’s 0.9, Fred’s 0.9 and Mount’s 0.3.
The Scotland international also wins 2.7 aerial duels per 90 minutes, putting him ahead of Casemiro (2.4), Fred (0.8), Mount (0.5), Fernandes (0.5) and Eriksen (0.4).
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