England teammates defend Chelsea's Mason Mount from criticism

England internationals reject characterization of Mount as manager Gareth Southgate's favorite

Declan Rice and Jack Grealish are among those to have offered their backing to Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount amid ongoing debate over what role he should play for the England national team.

Mount has featured in 11 of England's last 12 internationals and has come to be viewed by some as a favorite of Gareth Southgate, something which the manager himself has not necessarily helped to dispel thanks to his frequent glowing praise of the 21-year-old.

For many, that praise is richly deserved. Despite competition for places at Chelsea Mount has been a consistent figure in Frank Lampard's plans and has generally performed well in an England shirt, notably scoring the winner against Belgium last month.

Yet competition for places in his attacking midfield role is tough with Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish at times overlooked to make room for Mount, a decision that has caused much debate on social media.

Thursday's game between England and the Republic of Ireland appeared to indicate that the notion Southgate must choose between Villa's mercurial creator and his Chelsea counterpart is a false dichotomy. Playing in a deep role Mount excelled both with and without the ball while Grealish ended up with an assist in an invigorating display while playing from the left.

That was an assessment shared by West Ham midfielder Declan Rice, who insisted there was no reason why the two could not play in the same team.

Craving even more coverage of the world's game? Listen below and subscribe to ¡Qué Golazo! A Daily CBS Soccer Podcast where we take you beyond the pitch and around the globe for commentary, previews, recaps and more.

"There's always going to be comparisons but they pretty much play in two different parts of the pitch," said Rice.

"Mason now at Chelsea is playing as an attacking number eight and Jack is playing off the left.

"I think you could see the other night that they can both play in the same team for sure and they're both great players that I think we should be valuing."

Rice, who began his career with Mount in the Chelsea academy, isn't impressed by the criticism his international team-mate has received.

"I know what his mentality is like. I know how driven he is," Rice said. "It is no surprise that Gareth picks him and Frank picks him.

"I think if you give every Premier League manager the chance to pick him, they pick him as well because if you see day in, day out what he gives to the team as an individual, he's a top talent - so I think that the criticism is very harsh."

Rice is not the only one to offer a glowing assessment of Mount's qualities. Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright said criticism of the Chelsea player was "disgraceful." Even Grealish, the man who most often misses out when Southgate selects Mount, isn't buying the criticism.

After England's 3-0 win over Ireland Grealish said, "I love Mason. It's a bit annoying actually because he probably gets a bit of stick about it at times but I've always been close with him.

"I think he's an absolutely terrific player. I don't even feel like we're fighting for the same spot to be honest.

"If anything I think Mason's underrated and he deserves all the credit he gets and I think that people who know about football will understand just how good he is."