Ten Hag told Man Utd man going through a ‘tough time’ can be ‘as influential as’ Fernandes

Manchester United midfielder Mason Mount “can be as influential as Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen” at Old Trafford, according to former Red Devils defender Mikael Silvestre.

The Red Devils spent an initial £55m on Mount in the summer transfer window with another £5m in potential add-ons taking the value of the deal to around £60m.

A number of fans and pundits were confused by his signing from Chelsea because of the presence of Fernandes and Eriksen, with calls for them to focus on improving other areas of the team first.

And Mount has failed to make an impact since moving from Stamford Bridge with the 24-year-old contributing no goals and one assist in his first six matches in all competitions.

The Man Utd midfielder missed a number of matches through injury earlier in the season and has failed to get going in his time at Old Trafford – but Silvestre reckons it’s only a matter of time before Mount becomes an effective player for Erik ten Hag.

Silvestre told bettingexpert.com: “I think Mason Mount has adapted very slowly at Man United. I expected him to hit the ground running a bit faster because he was there in the pre-season.

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“He knows the Premier League and he knows what Man United is about. But again, the team is struggling and it affects him as well.”

Silvestre added: “It has been a tough time for Mount and he hasn’t performed very well but he is trying. When things get better he can provide and be the Mason Mount we know he can be in terms of creating chances and score goals.

“Mason Mount can be as influential as Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen.”

Marcus Rashford, who was the top goalscorer for Man Utd last season with 30 goals in all competitions, is another player who has struggled for form this term with the England international contributing one goal and three assists in ten matches.

On Rashford, Silvestre continued: “I think the consistency from Marcus Rashford will come again. He has been creating himself and others.

“I think it’s just a matter of time because he knows he has to peak now and once the team starts improving, I think he will go back to scoring regularly.

“It’s difficult to point a finger at what has been the issue but I think he has just been suffering under the lack of consistency from the team.”

“Of course, for him to be dominant and score a lot of goals will be tough when the team is not performing.”