The manner in which Mason Mount arrived in the box to fire home the winner against Fulham was reminiscent of Frank Lampard in his playing days, and the boss believes our young midfielder will only score more goals like that in the years to come.
With time running out at Craven Cottage, Mount pounced on a loose ball and emphatically found the net, settling a hard-fought west London derby in the process.
Surprisingly it was only his second Premier League goal of the season, his first coming all the way back in September at West Brom, and Lampard underlined the need for Mount to hit the target more regularly.
‘It’s a conversation I have a lot with Mason,’ he revealed.
‘He can get more goals from midfield. I had him at Derby that year but even then there was a feeling between me and him he could get more. I’m always on him about it because it was obviously something big in my game.
‘As I have alluded to before, my serious goalscoring at Chelsea came in when I was 25, 26. I’m not trying to measure Mason up against myself, but I understand it’s not easy to get so many regular goals.
‘The nous of being involved in general play and getting two or three opportunities for himself will come with development and work,’ added Lampard.
‘He will score a lot more goals. By the time he’s 24, maturing into the prime of his career, I would like to think Mason Mount will be a player in the highest level in all senses and have at least 10 goals, maybe 15, a season in him. The great thing is I know he knows it and he wants it, so it will happen.’
Mount was deployed on the right side of the midfield three on Saturday, having more often than not featured on the left this season. While he has also helped out by playing in the front three at times, it is as a no.8 that Lampard believes he most excels.
‘His ideal position is central, and from that central area he gets involved in build-up play a lot. My feeling is he needs to get in the 18-yard box more. There are times when we have the ball wide or outside the box and he can be higher up the pitch. As he gets older it will be very natural for him to understand the moments he can get in there.
‘If he keeps doing that, with his quality and smartness, he will get chances and score more goals. To score the type of goal he did [at Fulham] is a big deal for me rather than the 25-yarder last week [against Morecambe], because goals in the box are what Mason can definitely add.’