Mason Mount Says His 'Focus Is on Chelsea' Amid Barcelona, Real Madrid Talk

Chelsea star Mason Mount has played down comments from his former Vitesse team-mate, Mitchell van Bergen, that he will one day play for Barcelona or Real Madrid. 

Van Bergen, now at Heerenveen, played alongside Mount at Eredivisie side Vitesse when the Englishman spent a season on loan there in 2017-18.

He recently told Dutch outlet NOS (h/t Goal) that he can see Mount, 20, ending up at one of Barca or Real after his fine start to the 2019-20 season under manager Frank Lampard.

Per Goal's Chris Burton, though, Mount would not be drawn on Van Bergen's claim:

"I saw what Mitchell said. I'm obviously very close to him—we had a very close bond. He's a brilliant player. But my focus is on Chelsea, and this is my first year, so I don't look too far ahead. My focus is on the next game, that's kind of how far I look ahead."

Mount has played a key role for Chelsea this season, starting all 11 of their Premier League games and scoring four goals. Lampard has impressed with a youth-based Blues side in his debut campaign as manager.

The Chelsea legend had Mount in his Derby County side as a loanee last term in the Championship, and both have made the step up to the Premier League in admirable fashion.

As well as Mount, Lampard has made Tammy Abraham his first choice No. 9, and the 22-year-old has repaid his fellow Englishman with nine Premier League goals in 11 appearances:

Meanwhile, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James and Fikayo Tomori—all Chelsea academy graduates like Mount and Abraham—have been given first-team minutes in 2019-20.

It was widely expected Lampard would have to use some youngsters this term because of Chelsea's transfer ban.

But he has gone beyond expectations by using academy players at the expense of experienced stars like Olivier Giroud.

After a rocky start to the campaign, Chelsea are now comfortably fourth in the Premier League after five wins in a row in the English top flight:

They are back in action against Ajax in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday before welcoming Crystal Palace to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.