Competition for places is motivation for Mason Mount in ‘family’ atmosphere with England

Mount has played an important role for the Three Lions of late despite others pushing their own claims

Mason Mount says the England squad has a family atmosphere (The FA via Getty Images)

Mason Mount says there is a “family” atmosphere among the England squad despite the intense competition for places, particularly among the forward positions.

Gareth Southgate is blessed with what is probably the country’s best array of attacking talent in a generation, although that does put a premium on certain roles.

Much has been made of Mount’s own fight for a place with playmakers such as Jack Grealish and Phil Foden, but the 22-year-old insists that only creates a healthy spirit.

“We all know, there are so many good players in this team, players that are not here at the moment, with us, we just want to continue to be the best we can be, we’re always working hard,” Mount said.

“I’ve seen Jack, Phil do brilliant things. It motivates me to want to do the same, and continue to do well. We all understand how many good players we have in this team. It excites us as players to know that we’ve got that, as we all have the same goal of winning things, and really doing great things with our country, that’s the most important thing.

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“We all have goals and ambitions to win major trophies, at England and at club level, we’re all competing to want to do that, at club level, but when we join England we’re together.

“We’re very close as a group, we’re like family, so that’s the winning formula, especially major tournaments when you’re away with each other for a long time, we know we got on very well and that’s the most important thing.”

Mount said England have been preparing for a variety of different formations for this campaign.

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“As players we’re very versatile and able to play different positions and formations. Any game that comes up, you have to change sometimes. As a team we’re ready for that. We know how to change the way we play and the formation we play in. That’s a positive. We’ve played three a lot but we can also play four. That’s a big positive for us.

“We are versatile as a team. In the modern game, you have to be ready to change if the other team are tactically different to what you have prepared for. We are ready for it, definitely. I feel like I can play in any position and I just want to understand, more and more, in different positions.”