Paul Parker is not convinced the hamstring problems ever quite add up.

“I just wondered how injured he was. Was it one of them you can play through it and you can get over it while you’re playing, rather than just sit out until you’re 100% fit?” the former Manchester United defender told Goal.

In the same piece, Goal reported Manchester United are being tipped to invite offers for Mason Mount across the 2027 transfer windows, with 12 months to run on his contract once the current season ends.

75 games, 8 goals, three years

Mount has made 75 appearances in all competitions for United since arriving from Chelsea in a £55m deal in July 2023, scoring eight goals.

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The three-year ledger includes 23 appearances in 2025-26, of which only 12 were starts, and he has never reached 24 Premier League appearances in a season at Old Trafford, a tally his final Chelsea campaign had already matched.

This season began the same way. A pre-season foot injury kept Mount out between 16 and 28 August and cost him the opening weeks of Michael Carrick’s new campaign. He has started one match of three on his return, scoring once, and came off the bench in United’s 4-0 Champions League win over Sabah.

‘What’s wrong with just watching people?’

Parker’s wider point is that Mount has never had the run to show what United paid for.

“Every time he’s had an opportunity to prove himself and he’s come in, everyone’s gone, ‘yeah, maybe we’ve seen something’. And all of a sudden, the next game comes around and he’s out injured,” he said.

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The former defender also questioned United’s recruitment model.

“I just wonder about this way of getting players now and all this data and stuff like that. What’s wrong with just watching people and asking questions to people around?” Parker said.

His conclusion was that Mount’s move had been mistimed rather than misjudged.

“So sometimes you have to say ‘right club, wrong time’,” he said.

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INEOS already regret two summer buys

The timing of a potential Mount sale would fit the wider pattern. United’s hierarchy has privately admitted that two of its summer midfield signings were a poor fit, with insiders describing Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos as “a long way down the list” of their original targets.

Mount’s contract has 12 months to run after the 2026-27 season concludes. On the question of a one-year extension, Parker was blunt.

“If United were to go and give him another year, that would just bring up everything that’s been going on for the past 10 years with players,” he said.

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