Former Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has heaped praise on Mason Mount after his impressive performance against Rennes on Tuesday night.
Mount was sublime in the Blues' Champions League win at Roazhon Park in France, laying on an impressive assist for Callum Hudson-Odoi's opening goal.
The youngster has played every minute in all but three league matches this season and has scored one goal and provided four assists, despite Chelsea's huge outlay on Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz this summer.
Fabregas, who is now at Monaco following his departure from Chelsea in 2019, declared Mount's performance 'fantastic' on Twitter.
Mount was grateful for the compliment, replying to the two-time Premier League champion: 'Thanks magician, been watching your assists'.
The 21-year-old has recently been criticised by fans of the England national team, who believe Gareth Southgate is denying Aston Villa's Jack Grealish a bigger role by playing Mount.
Frank Lampard, who also managed Mount during his one season on loan at Derby County, demanded the criticism must stop and offered his support to the young midfielder after Tuesday night's game.
The Chelsea boss told BT Sport: 'I have a good relationship with Mason. Not as close as some people think and he knows that I'm there if he wants any guidance.
'With Mason there's been talk and it's got to go away. I'm lucky to know him well at Derby in his breakthrough season in the Championship and he's been outstanding with the way he works off the ball.
'I'm not going to undermine that and he has all the attributes to arrive high up the pitch and score more goals and make more assists.
'It's the modern world with social media and for me the way Mason plays he knows how good he is. We all have opinions. Let's talk about how good Mason is and let's let him get on with it.
'The assist like he made tonight was top-class. I've got good options in midfield and you see Kai Havertz doing well despite being in isolation and we have to keep competition high in that area.'
BT Sport pundit Joe Cole, who also works as an academy coach at Chelsea, also called for fans to stop criticising Mount over his displays.
Cole said: 'When you see people criticising Mason Mount, who are they? Because he's been sublime from the start of the season.'
After frustrating England fans by selecting Mount over Grealish in the past two international breaks, both players started all three of England's matches in November.
Mount helped the Blues qualify for the Champions League knockout stages with victory at Rennes. It remains to be seen whether he will feature in Sunday's mammoth clash with Jose Mourinho's Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.