Mason Mount and four collapsed transfers that proved to be a blessing

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 9 Oct 2024 07:39 CDT
4 min read

The summer of 2023 saw a record-breaking window of transfers, with obscene amounts of money spent all over Europe - in particular in the Premier League.

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But there were also a number of huge transfers that didn’t go through as planned.

Of these collapsed transfers, many have proved to be a blessing in disguise.

We look at four deals from 2023 where the interested party can thank their lucky stars that the transfer never went through.

Mason Mount: Chelsea to Liverpool

Mason Mount signed for Man Utd for €64.2 million in the summer of 2023 after his relationship and contract talks broke down at Chelsea.

Liverpool were desperate to sign Mount and had been in talks for a number of months for the attacking midfielder but he ended up joining his father’s favourite club instead.

So far Mount has been a disaster when he has played, often occupying the same positions as Bruno Fernandes.

He managed just one Premier League goal and assist last season and suffered from lots of injuries. He is well down the pecking order this time around, too as Man Utd find themselves down in 14th position after seven games.

Romeo Lavia: Southampton to Liverpool

Liverpool will also be grateful that their plans to sign Romeo Lavia fell through in the summer of 2023.

The Reds were also in talks to buy the Southampton central midfielder but saw Chelsea hijack their deal for the player.

Chelsea paid a massive €68m for Lavia and it has not been money well spent.

Lavia arrived in west London with a pre-existing ankle injury, suffered in pre-season, and he wasn’t able to make his Blues debut until 27 December 2023 against Crystal Palace.

The 20-year-old played the final 32 minutes of Chelsea’s narrow 2-1 win over Palace in late December, but immediately suffered another injury and did not play for the rest of the season.

His injur problems have continued into this season.

Folarin Balogun: Arsenal to Inter

Inter Milan made Balogun their number one target for the attack in the summer of 2023 after they pulled out of the running for Romelu Lukaku and lost Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta.

Balogun himself had made it clear he wanted to join Inter with a number of not so subtle social media posts.

However, Inter eventually pulled out of a deal as they felt Arsenal’s €30m asking price was too high.

This has proved to be a smart choice as Balogun has been a big disappointment at Monaco. He scored just seven Ligue 1 goals last season.

Mykhailo Mudryk: Shakhtar to Arsenal

This collapsed transfer was from January 2023 but has been the biggest blessing of all, at least as far as Arsenal are concerned.

Mudryk joined Chelsea for €100 million in January 2023 from Shakhtar Donetsk after the Blues hijacked Arsenal's deal for the winger.

However, Mudryk has flopped badly at Stamford Bridge and, having fallen down the pecking order, was even linked with a January transfer away from Chelsea.

Since joining Chelsea, Mudryk has managed just seven goals and six assists in 64 appearances amidst a string of poor performances.