“Shame for me”- Rival PL boss washes his hands off the future of key Liverpool summer target

Frank Lampard admits it is not in his hands to decide the future of Liverpool target Mason Mount

Interim Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has admitted that it is up to him to decide what the future of Liverpool target Mason Mount

Mount’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires next summer, with Liverpool being one of the clubs interested in signing him this summer if he does not sign an extension.

A price tag of £70m is slapped, although that can be negotiated down because the 24-year-old is eyed up by Manchester United, Newcastle United, Arsenal and Manchester City. Once it becomes a transfer race, the selling club cannot keep the price as high as they want.

Lampard confirms that Mount may miss the remainder of this season as he needs minor surgery to get over the pelvic issues. Here’s what the Chelsea boss said when asked about the future of the England international at Chelsea (h/t Liverpool Echo):

“I don’t know the answer to that [if Mount has played his last Chelsea game], it’s a conversation between Mason and the club, so I don’t know. It’s not final at this point and we’ll have to see because those conversations are ongoing.

“It’s a shame for me personally because I think everyone knows how I feel about working with Mason and I like to think he feels the same about me, and we could have done with him in the games we’ve played already this season.

“But the bigger picture is something that’s going to become clearer in the next weeks and months, and that will be the club and Mason together having conversations.”

With Mount not expected to play till the end of May, we might know the final decision on his future earlier than anticipated.

The injury layoff may offer the 24-year-old enough time to discuss the possibilities of what needs to be done. The Athletic has reported that Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has had one-to-one talks with the player to convince him to stay.

Evening Standard later revealed that the Blues are ready to offer a one or two-year deal to buy enough time so that they can reject Liverpool’s attempts to sign him.

One would think that this is another piece of naive business the new Chelsea owners are attempting after the disaster year they have had since taking over last summer.

More Liverpool News:

• Liverpool to meet the representatives of Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Alexis Mac Allister in the coming weeks
• FC Barcelona to turn down the chance to sign Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino
• Real Madrid to compete with Liverpool for Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze

Liverpool, on the other hand, should look to complete the deal sooner rather than later, unless Mount changes his mind completely and decides to stay in West London.