MAURICIO POCHETTINO faces a massive uphill battle to keep Mason Mount at Chelsea.
The incoming boss has targeted the £60million-rated midfielder’s contract stand-off as one of his main priorities when he takes over at the end of this season.
But SunSport understands Pochettino’s arrival is coming too late to save negotiations and one of Chelsea’s most popular players looks set to leave his boyhood club after 18 years.
Mount, 24, has barely a year left on his deal and talks are at loggerheads after ten months.
SunSport can reveal Mount was offered a one-year extension by Chelsea in February but this was flatly rejected and seen as a ploy simply to raise his transfer fee.
Relations between the player’s representatives and the club are at an all-time low and Pochettino needs a “miracle” to turn it round.
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A Blues source said: “It feels like it is too late now for Mason.
“Pochettino is good but he can’t work miracles.
“If he had been brought in when Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel in September then maybe it would be a different story.
“But in ten months there hasn’t been any resolution and other clubs want him. Good luck to Poch and Mason but we’re not hopeful.”
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Mount is injured but eyeing a return for the final two games this season — at Manchester United then home to Newcastle on May 28.
That could well be the end of the England star’s Blues journey, which started when he was six.
Premier League rivals Liverpool and Arsenal have been strongly linked with interest in Mount.
And Chelsea will sell if he does not sign a new deal as they do not want him leaving for free at the end of next season.
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Poch has agreed to take over from caretaker boss Frank Lampard but will wait until next month to officially take the reins.
Former Tottenham chief Pochettino had an interview when Tuchel was axed in September but chairman Todd Boehly opted for Graham Potter.
Potter was dismissed in April and Lampard came in.
Poch is seen as one of the best in the business but wants a big say in matters and will have to oversee a mass clearout to balance the books.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
