Mason Mount continues emergence as key man in Gareth Southgate’s England Euro 2020 project
When Mason Mount collected Harry Kane’s pass and clipped the ball over Albania goalkeeper Etrit Berisha on Sunday it was job done.
Another three points for England to continue their flawless start to the qualifying campaign for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
And another exhibit in the burgeoning cache of evidence that Mount deserves a central role in the national team at this summer’s Euro 2020.
Mount has been one of the biggest winners from England’s first two Group I fixtures.
He fizzed in Thursday’s 5-0 win against San Marino, setting up Raheem Sterling for the third goal after winning the ball in the opposition half.
The 22-year-old then capped a fruitful few days with that effortless finish to make it 2-0 in Tirana at the weekend.
Those two performances underlined what Mount brings to a team.
His high-energy style helps England to press from the front, putting him in positions to set up team-mates or finish counter-attacks himself.
And when he has the ball he is a reliable generator of end product: Mount has now scored four goals in 15 international appearances, a similarly brisk strike rate to his six in 39 for Chelsea this season.
England are, of course, blessed with an abundance of gifted attacking midfielders.
Also in contention for Mount’s favoured No10 position are Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and James Maddison. Perhaps even Ross Barkley and Dele Alli.
Grealish and Foden have attracted the greatest clamour for England inclusion, but Maddison isn’t short of cheerleaders either.
Mount a perfect Southgate player
Mount, by contrast, always seems to have to justify his inclusion, whether for club or country.
While Grealish and Maddison have a roguish quality we seem to crave in our flair players, Mount has been cast as the teacher’s pet.
If they are from the lineage of Chris Waddle or – at a stretch – Paul Gascoigne, he is more like a souped-up Adam Lallana.
In Gareth Southgate, however, he has a manager who favours good character more than most.
Mount is, in many ways, a perfect Southgate player: nice, yes, but in a useful, adaptable team player, sort of way.
And Southgate has shown he will back his favourites despite outside noise, from Raheem Sterling to Jordan Pickford.
Mount has just had to get used to winning people over, whether at Chelsea, the wider English football fanbase or now at international level.
Thomas Tuchel left him out of his first Chelsea starting XI but has since made him captain.
On current form, there is every chance that Mount uses Euro 2020 to convert the remaining disbelievers.