Mount made his debut for the Red Devils in a 2-0 pre-season friendly win over Leeds United in Oslo on Wednesday, after joining for £55 million from Chelsea and inheriting Cristiano Ronaldo’s famed No.7 shirt.
Erik ten Hag outlined Mount’s role in his plans ahead of kickoff, telling MUTV: “I am confident he will contribute to Manchester United’s success because he is a quality player.”
“In midfield, you must attack while also defending.” He will add dynamism to our game. We require more dynamism in the midfield.”
A video showing Mount being disturbed by a bunch of people holding shirts for him to sign has gone viral on social media.
The particular location is unknown, but Mount is approached by members of the public in a car park in pitch-black conditions while wearing his United tracksuit.
Mount instantly responds, “You know I ain’t signing it” and “Sorry lads” as he walks away, much to the chagrin of those who had waited for him.
They beg the England international to sign, but he refuses, saying, “I haven’t signed for the last three days, so I don’t know why you lot keep coming back.”
However, United fans have backed Mount’s choice not to sign his autograph and believe the people in the video were merely trying to make money rather than being genuine supporters.
“Go on Mason lad,” one said.
“Extremely strange to follow a footballer like that,” commented another.
“This is one reason why you see clips of players just walking past crowds and going into hotels,” a third said.
“The account filming is called Icons 4 U,” a fourth said. We can all guess why they’re chasing folks down for signatures.”
“See it OT every week same faces trying to get signatures and then flog them on the internet,” wrote another. Mase, congratulations.”
“This is so cringe, grown men begging for autographs and also doing it in a really uncomfortable and intrusive way,” a fifth complained. It’s plainly intended to sell on and rip off genuine fans. Mason is right to reject them; he can’t have that, especially in his own space.
“This is not only embarrassing from these signature touts following him in a car park in the dark to get a shirt signed, but also scary,” said one last commenter. Mase handled it extremely nicely, and I absolutely agree with him.”