Erik ten Hag might give Mason Mount new position at Manchester United this season

It felt inevitable Mason Mount would be Manchester United's first signing of the summer and the move was duly confirmed last week.

Erik ten Hag wanted Mount, the player was keen to swap Stamford Bridge for Old Trafford and Chelsea were willing sellers. The transfer made sense for all parties and the initial fee of £55million agreed represented reasonable market value.

Any avid social media users might have felt the Mount pursuit was a mini-transfer saga, but the deal was relatively straightforward, in truth, whereas last summer, talks for Frenkie de Jong were as complicated as cracking the Enigma code.

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Football director John Murtough did his best to emulate Alan Turing in talks with Barcelona but his efforts were to no avail. De Jong was the one that got away, but Mount is considered by Ten Hag as a perfect alternative to the Dutchman.

Mount is a welcome addition and he should inject some much-needed energy into the midfield. The 24-year-old is yet to reach his prime years and he should continue to polish the key aspects of his game under the tutelage of Ten Hag.

Ten Hag has improved almost every player at the club in his first season in charge and coaxing improvement out of Mount is also expected. He's already an England international and he's got the potential to develop into a world-class operator.

The Cobham graduate has made his name playing as a No.10, a creative attacking midfielder with the ability to unlock defences, but it seems he's actually been brought to Manchester to occupy a different role in the