Mason Mount will help raise the bar at Manchester United, according to Frank Lampard, who is adamant the £60m signing with a throwback attitude will be a 'fantastic' player for the Old Trafford club.
Mount joined United in a high-profile summer move from his boyhood club Chelsea, where he was first blooded in senior football by Lampard.
Lampard also worked with Mount at Derby and has been among the managers repeatedly vocal about the latter's qualities when he may split opinion elsewhere.
Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Lampard said: 'I think it's a complicated one [why he left Chelsea] and in the end, he's got a year left on his contract …
'What I'll say about Mason is, all the things I spoke about there, you talk about modern players and how the game's changed, he is a throwback to the attitude and the commitment and the quality... that was the beauty of working with Mason. He gave you so much in terms of his effort every day.
'Anything you'd ask him to do he's like "yeah", and he kind of got it. I think any great player has to have that kind of intelligence and that desire about them. You know that "what do you need me to do? Yep, I've got it and I'll do it and I'll repeat it" and also quality.
So in terms of what he brings to Manchester United, it won't just be what Mason brings, and he will bring loads of talent, but he's just going to go [in] and the levels around him… [will go up].
'Don't get me wrong, bar raisers are already there with Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, but he will absolutely fit in with that. If you're trying to build a group mentality of a team with] players that are just going to give everything and have talent which a top team needs, he fits in.
'I've seen some alternative reaction to that [signing] like "oh, yeah, Mason Mount that's a good buy" [but then also] "but why would you pay that for him?" Mason Mount is going to be a fantastic player there in my opinion.'
Mount's exit raised eyebrows given his affinity to Chelsea, who he joined age six.
Lampard added: 'I think probably Mason would have envisaged two years ago that he'd stay at Chelsea for a lot of his career.
'I just think circumstances, his contract situation. I know he's got a big love for Chelsea. Also in the modern day more than even in my day players do move and the challenge of moving, now it's come to that for Mason personally, is a good challenge for him.
'I would have liked to see him stay at Chelsea because I think he would have been central to it but it didn't happen.'