Whether we like to admit this or not, there are vast swathes of footballing acumen that is beyond our comprehension.
We can spot a decent player a mile off. We intrinsically know what a team is doing wrong and why the other side are getting the better of them.
Via a lifetime of watching countless matches we can dissect the complexities of football and do a very good job at sounding like an expert in the process.
Yet still, there is a sizable gap between what we know and understand and what an elite coach knows and understands. Let’s be honest, it would be plain odd if that wasn’t the case.
And somewhere in that gap, linking up play and keeping things nice and neat and tidy resides Mason Mount, an attacking midfielder many of us view as a functional player, a useful player, but only that.
Manchester United’s summer purchase will rarely lose his side possession but similarly he will rarely disrupt the football odds by producing a moment of magic. He’s hardly a difference-maker, is he?
To the majority of the British public he is a footballing domestic appliance, serving a purpose. Better to have, than not. And still a feeling persists that others could do what he does but add something more. More creativity. Have greater impact.
After all, in three of his four seasons at Chelsea he averaged 4.6 assists per term, scoring infrequently too and rarely impacting football predictions for Blues games.
Managers however rave about him. They adore him. For England boss Gareth Southgate the 24-year-old is routinely one of the first names on his team-sheet while at Chelsea he is in extremely select company by breaking out of the youth ranks and establishing himself as a first-team regular.
It is a progression at club level made under several different coaches, all of whom have fallen under the player’s spell, but nailing down precisely why they rate him so highly is difficult, with each tending towards generalities when discussing their star pupil or praising his character.
Take Frank Lampard’s strong defence of Mount when he encountered criticism for his middling form earlier this year. "You can ask myself, you can ask Thomas Tuchel, you can ask Gareth Southgate, you can ask Graham Potter, it’s clear he’s a top player."
Is it clear? There have been times when we’ve had to take the word of those who know infinitely better than we do, but that doesn’t mean we get it.
Thomas Tuchel, meanwhile, who initially dropped Mount on arriving at Stamford Bridge before being won around, has previously focused on the midfielder’s personality.
"He has the full package. The most important part is his character, he has his feet on the ground and he's a nice guy. He comes to Cobham every day to learn something new and have new experiences."
Comments such as this have only added to the consensus that Mount is a ‘teacher’s pet’, a player who follows instructions to the letter, works hard and does the right things. But surely there is more?
Surely that doesn’t explain 129 Premier League appearances, 36 England caps, and a transfer fee exceeding £55m.
"He finds space intelligently." That was Gareth Southgate’s explanation as to why he continues to pick Mount over some exceptional competition, and though that insight is welcomed, the England gaffer also then eulogized the number of chances he creates and goals he scores.
Whereas the statistics show both are merely and consistently a functional amount.
Mason Mount will be a big success at United. All of the sports betting suggests this and the odds are very probably right.
It’s just that this season, and for the whole of his career, most of us will be left in the dark as to how and why.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
