Chelsea
boss Frank Lampard believes Mason Mount will be able to deal with increased
scrutiny after starting the season in fine form and earning an England
call-up.
The 20-year-old has scored twice for the Blues having started all three of
their Premier League games.
Mount, who played under Lampard while on loan at Derby last year, has
previously been included in senior England squads but is yet to make his
debut.
England manager Gareth Southgate is a big fan of Mount and invited him to
train with his World Cup squad ahead of the tournament last summer.
After calling Mount up for the forthcoming Euro 2020 qualifying
double-header against Bulgaria and Kosovo, Southgate said the Chelsea man
has been "one of the outstanding players" in the Premier League so far this
season.
Lampard knows the player well enough to predict he will not be affected by
such achievements at this stage of his career, saying: "We're delighted for
Mason, it is great recognition.
"He had it (a call-up) at Derby but missed out with injury. He was
potentially in contention to start, so he hasn't had his chance yet. So I'm
delighted he's got this chance again.
"I'm not concerned about it, I spoke about this after Norwich. I'm confident
in his strength of character, desire and hunger. Those things won't affect
him.
"Everyone has to keep their feet on the ground to a degree, first and
foremost. I think he will as it's only the start for him in terms of his
Chelsea career.
"But I'm confident he will take the responsibility that comes with it and
keep working, because that is what is important now."
Lampard spoke about how impressed he has been with Tammy Abraham's response
after being subjected to racist abuse online, including scoring twice in
Chelsea's win over Norwich last week.
"His character and how he dealt with the situation was brilliant in terms of
the Twitter and the nonsense," said Lampard.
"I spoke strongly about it but he's the one dealing with it first-hand so
he's the person that has to rise above it, which is not easy, and he
certainly did that in his response.
"He has this character which is enthusiastic; he's a people person, the
players love him and he trains with a smile on his face but also a work
ethic."
Abraham and Mount are expected to retain their places in Lampard's side when
they welcome newly-promoted Sheffield United to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
One player who definitely will not be involved is N'Golo Kante, the
midfielder also missing out on the latest France squad as Lampard looks for
him to regain fitness over the international break.
"N'Golo Kante is not fit due to the continuation of his ankle problem and he
won't be travelling with the France squad either," Lampard said.
"I had a conversation with (France head coach) Didier Deschamps and we both
agreed it's the best thing for him. Let's try and get him fit over the
break.
"It's a setback, of course. My focus is then to make sure he's OK. He's had
four years of constant football at an incredibly high energy and output
level.
"We have to get that right. It's the right thing to do, we have a strong
squad and the performance last week was very good. We have to be strong as a
squad and hopefully we'll show that."
Pedro will also miss out after injuring his hamstring in the warm-up ahead
of the 3-2 win at Norwich, while Callum Hudson-Odoi remains absent.
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