Another
goal made in Chelsea’ proudly declared the club Twitter account as the
academy graduates combined for the opening goal on Europe’s biggest stage
against Lille.
It's a recurring theme of a season that has sparked optimism around the west
London club with Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori breathing new
life into the team.
Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reece James are now ready to join the party with the
more experienced Ruben Loftus-Cheek yet to return from injury, and Marc
Guehi and Billy Gilmour have also made an impact in the Carabao Cup.
Frank Lampard recently said: "I want to build a Chelsea team that knows how
much it means to play for this club."
That certainly applies to 20-year old Mount. The Portsmouth-born youngster
joined Chelsea's academy at the age of six and has scored three goals at
senior level since making his debut at Old Trafford in August.
He laughs as he is reminded of photographs of himself as a young kid with
"long hair" alongside David Luiz before he briefly became a team-mate of the
Brazilian centre-back and they recreated the photograph on social media.
Our interview with Mount takes place a stone's throw away from the
first-team base at Chelsea's Cobham training ground. The academy building is
a place he knows well as he demonstrates to us by describing how the
classroom setting we are using was previously part of the gym.
"It's been a crazy first couple of months," Mount told Sky Sports News.
"Sometimes it's quite strange on the training pitch or playing games looking
across and seeing someone you've played with for so many years.
"Hopefully this year we can try to win a trophy and build on that in the
next couple of years."
It's clear the midfielder is benefiting from playing under Chelsea's
all-time leading scorer, having also been part of Lampard's Derby side last
season.
Lampard, along with Jody Morris and the backroom team, believes in the youth
and Mount explained: "You want to give that extra mile for him.
"Mentally you've got to be ready. It's a big step and just because you're a
young player doing well it doesn't mean you're going to be ready for the
first team. You've got to show the manager that you're ready."
So could he reach 400+ appearances for Chelsea like John Terry and his
current boss?
"You hear all this stuff about there is not going to be another academy
player coming through but now look at it.
"There are numerous players coming through. Now it has happened I'm focused
on working hard and playing as many games as I can."
Mount is expected to be called up to the England squad on Thursday and he is
not shy about hiding his career ambitions.
"I definitely think we can achieve big things. If that is Euros or World
Cups you've always got to set the goal that high.
"Look at how well the players did at the World Cup. That's a massive target
for me, winning a big trophy for my country is a dream."
Growing up a Portsmouth fan, Mount faces Southampton on Super Sunday. If he
and his young team-mates continue to improve, the optimism around Chelsea
could last for some time.
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