Man Utd reach crossroads in star midfielder pursuit as £20m separates Ten Hag from transfer completion

Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth has reported Manchester United are only willing to pay £50-55million for Mason Mount, while Chelsea want £70-75million.

Things have gotten off to a fast start in terms of a number of big transfers since the summer transfer window opened. Just one day into the window, and there have been some interesting ongoings.

The situation surrounding Mount was set to be a major talking point in the window.

Indeed, as it got closer to opening, it looked more likely the Blues star would leave Stamford Bridge. That’s as contract negotiations fell through, and Chelsea seem happy to put anybody with a year left on their deal – such as Mount – up for sale.

A further reason the attacking-midfielder looked likely to leave was interest from some big names. Manchester United and Arsenal are two of the big clubs who have looked most likely to make genuine attempts to sign him.

The former did just that as soon as the transfer window opened.

Indeed, United reportedly offered £40million to the Blues, and had it immediately turned down.

Clearly, Chelsea felt the offer was below what they’re willing to sell Mount for. That’s frequently been reported as somewhere in the £70million ballpark.

United £20million away from Mount snare

Sky Sports reporter Sheth has detailed the discrepancy between what United are willing to pay and the fee Chelsea want to receive.

“I think some noises were suggesting United were looking around the £50–55m mark as what they felt was a reasonable price, whereas Chelsea were looking upwards of £70–75m for him, I think,” he said on Sky Sports.

Indeed, £20million between what they want to pay and what they might have to pay is quite the jump.

It remains to be seen if they are willing to go as high as it’s suggested they might have to. There’s a chance they were just testing the waters with a low bid in order to see if it might be accepted initially.

However, it doesn’t seem they’ll go an awful lot higher than the offer they did send.

Still, there’s £10-15million from their reported initial offer to what they are apparently willing to pay.

As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they were to go back in with a revised offer which is closer to what Chelsea would accept.

It seems the two clubs will be at a crossroads at that point if Sheth is correct, though. Indeed, it seems very unlikely the Blues would see £20million lower than their asking price as an acceptable offer.

With that being said, Mount will be allowed to walk away for free next season if they don’t sell up now or convince him into signing a new deal. As such, there’ll be some important decisions to be made soon.

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