Mason Mount may have just proved Jürgen Klopp wrong as new Liverpool transfer reality emerges

Liverpool transfer target Mason Mount has reportedly agreed personal terms with Manchester United.

Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News reports that Mount, his father Tony and his agent Neil Fewings have undertaken successful talks with the Red Devils.

United still has to agree a fee with Chelsea, but is clearly in pole position to sign the midfielder, who’s approaching the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge and seemingly doesn’t intend to pen an extension.

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The news comes as a blow to Liverpool, which has seemingly had its eyes on the Mount contract saga for a while.

As far back as last November, The Guardian reported that the Reds were one of the sides monitoring developments.

At that stage, the club’s plan may have been to pair Mount with Jude Bellingham in midfield, but now it seems that neither will arrive.

But why would the Chelsea man snub Liverpool when we’ve become accustomed to players favoring Jürgen Klopp Klopp’s side over United in recent years? In January, Cody Gakpo ignored advice from then-PSV manager Ruud van Nistelrooy to wait for his old club, and instead sought a move to Anfield after conversations with compatriot Virgil van Dijk (via Football 365). The previous summer, United had hoped to sign Darwin Núñez, but was forced to pull out of the race when it became clear that the Uruguayan preferred to join Liverpool (via Goal).

Perhaps it comes down to wages. The Telegraph has previously claimed that Mount has asked for a salary of around $375k (£300k/€350k) per week to put him among the highest earners at Chelsea. That would place him second only to Mohamed Salah at Liverpool, and some $100k clear of Van Dijk (as per Capology/FBRef).

We know from the drawn-out Salah talks that the club is determined to preserve its wage structure, and so maybe United presented a package that was more in line with the player’s expectations.

Indeed, there are already four players at Old Trafford earning $375k or more — David de Gea, Raphaël Varane, Casemiro and Jadon Sancho (Capology/FBRef).

But we also have to consider the possibility that Liverpool’s absence from the Champions League is a decisive factor. The Athletic’s David Ornstein hinted as much in a recent interview with Sky Sports.

“Liverpool were the early frontrunners but of course they’re not going to be in the Champions League next season,” he said.

Klopp had previously expressed confidence that his team’s absence from Europe’s premier club competition wouldn’t be an issue, because its pulling power remained strong.

“It is a fantastic club with a really good football team and even better, hopefully, next year,” he said, as quoted by Sky Sports. “I’ve barely faced the situation where you talk with a player and everything is great and he says, ‘okay see you if…’ That doesn’t happen really often.

“We are still Liverpool and we are really attractive for a lot of players, we should not forget that. That’s why I’m not concerned about that fact.

“Everything is of course more difficult without Champions League, especially in long term, and we have to not do these things more often.

“But apart from that, it’s okay the situation we are in from a talking point of view and convincing point of view.”

One year out of the competition certainly isn’t the end of the world for most players, especially for a 24-year-old like Mount.

But perhaps the real problem is that he’s looked at the two clubs, seen United in the Champions League and Liverpool in the Europa League, and decided that the former is simply on a healthier trajectory right now.

If so, it remains to be seen whether this proves to be a recurring theme of Liverpool’s transfer window in its battles with footballing superpowers, or just an isolated case.

Either way, assuming United ties up a deal, it will crank up the pressure on arch-rival Liverpool to show that it can navigate its way back to the top and secure its primary targets even after its poorest season for seven years.