Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount has opened up on what it was like to play against Liverpool transfer target Thiago Alcantara, admitting he 'couldn't get anywhere near' the Bayern Munich star.
The midfield maestro has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League champions this summer with just one year remaining on his current deal at the Bundesliga giants.
Thiago starred for Bayern as they beat Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate at the last-16 stage of the Champions League on they wait to winning the elite European competition last month.
Mount, who broke through into the Chelsea first team under Frank Lampard last season, has shed light on the quality of Bayern and Thiago.
'Bayern have some unbelievable world-class players... [Robert] Lewandowski, [Joshua] Kimmich and Thiago in midfield, I just couldn't get near him,' he told Sport Bible.
'They moved the ball around the team so quickly. When you're up against players like that you're thinking, "How are we going to stop this?"
'It was a big moment, it opened my eyes. It made me realise, "This is the next level, this where you need to be". And I am determined to work hard and reach that level.
'It was a tough lesson, but we've taken so much from that experience and we'll come back stronger.'
After comfortably beating Chelsea Bayern went on to humiliate Barcelona 8-2 and then saw off Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain to win the Treble last campaign.
giddyboi
330
The sky is your limit Mason💙
Nesaiknruy_Legend
175
Thiago is a top player but hes also the finished article. Naturally any young player struggles against a player that is already pretty much the best in his position. But Mount has years to become the finished product. Hes 8 years away from his very best. The fact that people call 21 year old players overrated is laughable to say the least. Until 25 years of age at least, no player should be deemed a failure otherwise by this logic Tony Pulis was right when he said Gnabry is a failure and overrated, do you guys accept? Mount is clearly incredibly talented and the personel we are bringing in really compliments him. You have Werner that can latch onto his through balls which he creates many of that goes unnoticed, You have Kai and Hakim who will find him when he makes runs off the ball. Mount was arguably our most intelligent player on the pitch last season with Olivier Giroud If people werent hateful towards the player and looked with an unbiased eye theyd see that he does everything right but has inexperience in 1 or 2 areas that correct with time as hes never played top flight football before this season...