Chelsea have rejected a third bid of around £55 million from Manchester United for midfielder Mason Mount.

United had warned that if the offer was not accepted, they would stop talking to the Blues.

For the England international, Chelsea is thought to want at least £58m plus another £7m in possible add-ons.

But United thinks that number is too high because Mount’s contract only has one year left and talks about extending it have stopped.

Premier League teams have turned down bids from United for Mount worth up to £40 million and £50 million. It is thought that Chelsea has told United that they are willing to meet to talk things out.

Erik ten Hag, the manager of the Red Devils, wants Mount to be his first signing of the summer. He wants to improve his team after they qualified for the Champions League next season.

Personal issues don’t seem to be an issue, and United is sure that the player wants to move to Old Trafford.

Mount has scored 33 goals in 195 games for Chelsea since he made his debut in 2019. He missed the end of the season because he was hurt, and the Blues ended up in 12th place, which was their worst finish in more than 25 years.

In 2021, he won the Champions League with Chelsea. In the final, Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0, and he was the first player on the pitch. With the Blues, he has also won the Fifa Club World Cup and the Uefa Super Cup.

The 24-year-old has played for England 36 times, scoring five goals, and was on manager Gareth Southgate’s team for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Mount came up through Chelsea’s youth programme. In 2017-18, he played for Vitesse on loan and scored nine goals in 29 Eredivisie games.

The next season, he was loaned to Derby County. Under manager Frank Lampard, he scored eight goals in 35 Championship games, but Aston Villa beat the Rams 2-1 in the play-off final.

When Mount went back to Chelsea in 2019, he got his big break under Lampard, who had just been hired as manager. He became a key player at Stamford Bridge.

Last month, Chelsea hired Mauricio Pochettino, the former manager of Tottenham, as their new manager. He replaced interim manager Frank Lampard, who had been in charge since Graham Potter was fired.

Photo by EPA/Daniel Hambury