Mason Mount and Andrey Santos: A New Midfield Partnership at Manchester United
Mason Mount has seen enough already. Two games into pre-season and he’s convinced Andrey Santos belongs at the heart of Manchester United’s rebuild.
The pair ran Rosenborg ragged in Norway, running the game from a deeper midfield pivot as Michael Carrick’s side cruised to a ruthless 5–0 win. It was only a friendly, only July, but the chemistry between United’s new No.6 and their retooled No.8 jumped off the pitch.
Santos steps straight into the gap
United have paid like a club that expects an answer, not a project. Santos arrived from Chelsea for an initial £48m, with a further £2m in add-ons, after never quite forcing his way into regular minutes in west London. At Old Trafford, there is no such hiding place.
Casemiro has gone. Manuel Ugarte is injured. The vacancy in front of the back four is real, and Santos has been dropped right into it.
Mount, operating just ahead of him, has welcomed the responsibility of guiding the 22-year-old – and he has liked what he’s seen.
“Andrey is a really good player. He reads the game brilliantly,” Mount said, underlining the Brazilian’s tactical sharpness. “I know he’s young, but he’s very experienced in going out on loan and playing in the Premier League as well… I’ve known Andrey for a while. I’ve watched him from afar, since he’s broken into the first team at Chelsea.”
Those loans and those scattered minutes at Stamford Bridge now feel like the prelude. In Trondheim, Santos dictated tempo, broke up play and released Mount into the spaces he loves. The roles were clear; the understanding looked anything but new.
Mount, remixed
This is not quite the Mount United thought they were getting three years ago. Injuries and tactical reshuffles have blurred his identity at Old Trafford, but Carrick is now pushing him into a more fluid No.8 role, starting deeper and driving the game on his terms.
Mount is relishing it.
“Defensively we’re both players that want to get around it, want to put tackles in and win the ball back and be aggressive,” he said, outlining his partnership with Santos. “I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s a position that I love and that I see myself in.”
He is no longer the pure No.10 waiting between the lines. Instead, he is dropping into pockets, knitting play, then bursting beyond the forwards. With Santos anchoring, Mount can hunt the ball and hurt teams in transition, a blend of industry and incision that has always been his best version.
The 5–0 scoreline owed plenty to that balance. Rosenborg were overrun in midfield, pinned back by United’s aggression without the ball and their clarity with it. For a pre-season exercise, it felt unusually coherent.
Armband and authority
The scoreline allowed another layer of Mount’s evolution to surface. When Carrick handed him the captain’s armband for the second half, the 27-year-old did not treat it as a prop.
He barked instructions. He dragged the tempo up. He made a point of talking to the kids.
Shea Lacey, who opened the scoring with a brilliant solo effort, received constant encouragement from Mount, who has started to look like a senior figure in what is suddenly a much younger dressing room.
“You have different types of leaders. You have ones that are very vocal. I want to always see myself as one that leads by example and never stops working on the pitch,” Mount said.
“I’ve been captain previously so I love the role. Especially with a lot of younger players on the pitch, being able to speak to them and make them feel comfortable in the game and even off the pitch as well.
“It’s a role that I really like and I loved having it (the armband) in the second half.”
These are not empty words. United’s squad has shed experience this summer; someone has to set standards. Mount, once the promising youngster at Chelsea, now finds himself as the one others watch.
Body right, timing right
The bigger shift, though, may be physical. Mount’s United career to date has been defined as much by absences as appearances. Across three seasons, he managed only 25 Premier League starts, never truly stringing together the rhythm that made him a mainstay at Stamford Bridge.
That version of Mount – relentless, durable, ever-present – has felt distant. He believes it is returning.
“I feel brilliant. I feel really, really good. I finished the season well. At the end of last season, playing a few games and being involved,” he said. “Building on that momentum at the end of last season. It’s been a good break, but I was ready and raring to get back and get training again… I know we’ve got a few more games left and a few more weeks to really work at stuff.”
The timing matters. United are trying to pivot into a new era under Carrick, with a more defined structure and a more ruthless recruitment strategy. For that to work, their key pieces need to be on the pitch, not in the treatment room.
A fully fit Mount, operating as a dynamic No.8, alongside a young, hungry No.6 in Santos, suddenly looks like a central pillar of that plan rather than a tactical experiment.
The opposition will get stronger than Rosenborg. The questions will, too. But if this is the first glimpse of United’s new midfield axis, the real intrigue now is simple: how far can this partnership drag the club back towards where it expects to be?
