Mount has struggled since arriving from Chelsea (Picture: Getty)
Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha has slammed Mason Mount for failing to ‘take responsibility’ on the ball after his troubled start to life at Old Trafford.
United saw off interest from Arsenal and Liverpool to sign the England international from Chelsea in a £55million deal during the summer transfer window.
Mount is still to make a telling impact in Manchester, failing to score and registering just one assist in eight appearances having also been sidelined with a muscle injury for five games.
United have endured a woeful start to the campaign with Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford also enduring difficult spells with Erik ten Hag’s side lacking a cutting edge up front and creativity in midfield.
Saha has been left particularly concerned by Mount’s contribution, believing the 24-year-old is allowing games to pass him by and showing a real lack of desire to make things happen for his new side.
‘I’ve seen moments this season where Mason Mount isn’t even asking for the ball. It’s very shocking for me to see a player with that type of quality shying away from taking responsibility, Saha told BettingOdds.com.
‘He is too good of a player to play like this, to not show a willingness to get the ball and make a difference and it is not on.
Mount is still waiting for his first United goal (Picture: Getty)
‘He has so much quality, but at the moment he doesn’t seem to have any faith in himself. He needs to show courage and commitment and I am really unimpressed with Mason Mount at the moment.
‘He has lost the keys to create damage to his opponents and to change games from midfield. He’s going whole games where he is barely touching the ball, it’s really strange.’
Jadon Sancho remains out of the picture at United following his public falling out with the manager with a January move looking likely for the former Borussia Dortmund star having refused to apologise to ten Hag.
While Sancho’s future at the club looks increasingly bleak, Saha has urged ten Hag to extend the olive branch.
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‘The Sancho situation could have been handled better for sure. Of course, Sancho has responsibility but the manager does too and he needs to help him,’ he said. ‘Everyone is losing in this current situation and ten Hag has to put his ego aside now.
‘This treatment is not right, it looks like the manager is trying to get revenge to show he has the power. If you want big stars playing for you at United, you have to help them express their personality. When they make mistakes, you have to give them a platform to say sorry instead of treating them so harshly.
‘Jadon is a great player and of course, he has made mistakes and hasn’t performed, but now the manager has the responsibility to help him fix this.’
MORE : Erik ten Hag has no regrets over ‘reckless’ Mason Mount substitution during Manchester derby defeat
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