Mason Mount is at the centre of a dispute between England and Chelsea with Graham Potter admitting he was surprised to see the midfielder named in Gareth Southgate’s squad.
Both England and Chelsea are keen to avoid a row over the matter, having worked closely over Raheem Sterling’s omission because of injury, but clarity will be sought over how Mount was picked by England only for Blues head coach Potter to rule him out less than 24 hours later.
Chelsea pulled Mount out of the England squad for the European Championship qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine the day after it was announced, with Potter confirming the club are set to look into the matter.
Potter is adamant that Mount was never available for selection by Southgate, with Chelsea privately insistent that England were made aware of Mount’s ongoing pelvic injury prior to the squad being named.
It is understood that Southgate picked Mount in good faith in the belief he would at least have a chance to be available and England have a policy of never picking players they know to be injured.
Making the situation even more confusing is the fact that another Chelsea player, Sterling, was omitted from the England squad on the advice of the club with both sides quick to stress his omission had been fitness related.
Mount had been hoping to join up with the England squad, but Chelsea medics want to give him more time to fully recover from a pelvic injury that has been troubling him and the 24-year-old has also been ruled out of the Premier League game against Everton on Saturday night.
Chelsea’s medical staff has undergone huge changes since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover, with the club also restructuring the sporting and recruitment structure.
Asked if Mount had suffered a set-back in his recovery since the England squad announcement, Potter said: “I’m not aware. He’s never been available as far as I’m aware.”
When Potter was then asked whether or not he had, therefore, been surprised to see Mount named in the England squad, he replied: “Yeah.”
Confirming Chelsea will seek clarity on the matter, Potter added: “Probably, as a club we will. I don’t have all the contacts of all the doctors and so it’s not like I’m up to [speed] on everything here. But as far as I was aware, he wasn’t going to be available for us at the weekend. He needed a bit of time for his injury to settle down, which pretty much ruled him out of the England thing.
“Whether that means they needed a bit of time to double-check that, I don’t know. But I don’t think there’s anything untoward at all, it’s more sometimes these things can be named, but there are still a couple of days where things can be changed. But as far as I was aware, from my selection perspective, he was unavailable for the weekend.”
England manager Southgate must now decide whether or not to call-up a replacement for Mount, with James Ward-Prowse and Morgan Gibbs-White among those who could be considered.
Chelsea are not taking any risks on the fitness of their players with big games to come after the international break, including a Champions League quarter-final tie against holders Real Madrid.
Potter attended a Chelsea fan event on Thursday night in which he said: “We’ll take the draw and then we’ll try and win the f—— Champions League.”
Asked whether he stood by the comment after Chelsea drew Madrid in the last eight and then Manchester City or Bayern Munich if they do proceed to the semi-finals, Potter said: “I said we would try to bleep win the Champions League. That’s the same for each of the other seven clubs. They will also say that they could lose in the quarter-finals because that’s the nature of the Champions League. We’ll focus on Real Madrid when we get there. At the moment, it’s Everton.
“The feeling is excitement but, as I’ve said, I’d rather speak about Everton because that’s the next game. The other stuff is a long way away.”
Potter confirmed that N’Golo Kanté could return to the Chelsea squad for the first time since August against Everton.
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