Mason Mount has spoken of his pride at being involved with England ahead of the landmark 1000th game on Thursday.
The Chelsea midfielder is one of the most recent debutants in Gareth Southgate’s squad, who can seal qualification for UEFA EURO 2020 with a point against Montenegro.
And the 20 year old admits his own unique player number is something which will never be far from his heart especially with each player’s shirt bearing their individual legacy number for the milestone match.
“I’m 1243, it’s a number that I won’t forget so I’ll always remember that from my debut and it’s always going to stick with me,” he revealed.
“With the number under the badge, it’s so close to your heart and to have that on your shirt – it’s a proud moment.
“Mingsy is the most recent one and he’s 1244, so I’ll probably always remember his too because it’s so close to mine, and to be given a specific number it’s something that will stick with you forever.
“I consider myself so lucky to have this opportunity and to be able to represent my country is such an honour.
“There’s 1000 games been played and 1244 people who have played for their country so it’s such a small amount, when you consider the amount of people who grow up wanting to be footballers and to play for your country, we’re in such a small, privileged percentage.
“When you look back at all of the games that have been played and the players that have played in the England shirt, there’s so many legends who came before us.
“Speaking to my dad and my grandad, who’ve watched games in the past, and for me now being here with the squad and having the opportunity to be around the place, it means so much to me and my family.
“It’s just an honour to be involved in what’s such a special game.”
Things are going well for the Portsmouth-born playmaker on a domestic front too, after making the first-team breakthrough with Chelsea this campaign.
For one so young, Mount has already amassed plenty of experience having spent the previous two seasons out on loan, with Vitesse Arnhem in 2017-18 and Derby County last term where he spent the season under the current Stamford Bridge boss, Frank Lampard.
TICKETS: ENGLAND V MONTENEGRO“I’m just trying to take everything as it comes,” he added.
“It’s been a crazy few months and a good season for me so far, but I’ve been fortunate with the opportunities I’ve been given in terms of my development away from Chelsea.
“It was a brilliant learning season for me last time, coming back to England having been out in Holland the year before.
“I was learning what the Championship is like, finding out how tough it is and gaining experience from the players I was playing against.
“There’s so many older players who’ve played the game and been at the top level and there’s no one better that you can learn from than those who've been there and done it.
“Playing against them is when you learn the most and I felt that was what I did with Derby.”
With Lampard then switching roles from Pride Park to Stamford Bridge in the summer, Mount admits it was a move which suited him as well as a number of his fellow Chelsea academy graduates and England squad mates such as Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
And he’s happy to admit he kept a close eye on those developments over the summer.
“I didn’t know what was happening and when you see the stuff in the media about the gaffer going to Chelsea, for me I was hoping that would happen and the possibility of that happening was quite high,” he said.
“So I was just waiting during my summer break, watching the news to see what was happening and everything and then when it happened, I was happy with that and raring to get back into training and show what I could do.
“He knew what kind of player I am and what I could bring, but going back to Chelsea was a totally different challenge for me this time.
“You’re going into a top, top club where there’s a lot of pressure and you need to perform because Chelsea is a club which wins trophies and is always competing.
“So going back there, I knew I had to prove to the manager that I could perform at that level and also prove to the players that I was ready to come up because the competition in the squad is so high.”
You can still be at Wembley on Thursday for our historic 1000th game with tickets available at a variety of price points. Be a part of history!
TICKETS: ENGLAND V MONTENEGRO
