Mason Mount looked heartbroken the last time he was at Stamford Bridge.
On Thursday night, he will return for the first time as a Manchester United player on what promises to be another emotional occasion for the man who spent 18 years in Chelsea blue.
The sight of a teary-eyed Mount arm-in-arm with Chelsea physio Billy McCulloch after the final home game of last season showed how much of a wrench it was leaving his boyhood club.
His £55million move to United has not gone to plan, but on Thursday he will be looking to make another big impact after his 96th-minute goal off the bench against Brentford last weekend.
That felt like a huge moment for a player who is still counting the cost of his final season at Chelsea.
Mount has been beset by injury problems since moving to Old Trafford nine months ago. He was making his first Premier League appearance since November 11, and three separate injuries have meant he has missed 26 of United’s 41 matches this season.
It is unusual for Mount to have been injured for so long. He was desperate to make a good impression at his new club, but his decision to play through a pubic-bone injury for Frank Lampard at the end of last season may have left him more susceptible to fitness problems.
Both he and Reece James had fitness issues when they faced Real Madrid last April to try to help Chelsea save their season in the Champions League, and both may have paid the price.
Now Mount is fit again, Erik ten Hag has said United will manage him carefully — and the 25-year-old is likely to start on the bench on Thursday. If Mount does come on, he will have mixed emotions. He started training with Chelsea at the age of six, signed as an Under-9 and made 195 senior appearances during which he lifted the Champions League in 2021.
Mount feels a strong connection with the club, but was disappointed with his exit. He did not push to leave, but the decision was made above his head, with Chelsea under pressure to sell last summer to ensure they stayed in line with Premier League profit and sustainability rules.
Mount, as an academy graduate entering the final year of his contract, was seen as an ideal solution to generate funds. He said in his unveiling interview that he believed Chelsea were ready to sell him, but since then he has done hardly any interviews and is yet to give his side of the story.
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It is a lose-lose situation for Mount, who has wanted to win over United fans while remaining respectful to Chelsea. Few former Chelsea players who left last summer have addressed last season or their exits from Stamford Bridge.
Most match-going fans are likely to show respect to a player who set up the Champions League winner for Havertz in Porto and won Chelsea’s player-of-the-year award in 2021 and 2022.
It is a lose-lose situation for Mount, who has wanted to win over United fans while remaining respectful to Chelsea
History is in danger of repeating itself at Chelsea with Conor Gallagher, who is often targeted by online trolls and could be sold this summer for £45-50m.
Like Mount last year, Gallagher will be entering the final year of his contract and there has been no progress in talks to renew his deal.
Ange Postecoglou is driving interest from Tottenham in Gallagher, who Chelsea see as another academy player who could help them balance the books.
United hope Mount can give them something different in midfield as they bid to keep their top-four hopes alive and win the FA Cup.
Mount, meanwhile, has not given up hope of forcing his way into the England squad for Euro 2024, and hopes there are happier times ahead.
