Paul Scholes says there are two reasons why Mason Mount isn’t starting at Manchester United

Paul Scholes believes there are two main reasons why Erik ten Hag hasn’t been starting Mason Mount at Manchester United in recent weeks.

Mount, 24, signed for the Old Trafford club in the summer for £55 million and was expected to be a key player for Ten Hag.

However, the midfielder has started just one of his last five Premier League appearances and also was benched in both of United’s last two Champions League games. His only start since the October international break came in the Carabao Cup defeat against Newcastle United.

Paul Scholes, who knows all about playing in the engine room at Old Trafford, believes that Mount playing alongside Bruno Fernandes ‘upsets the balance’ of the team and is one of the reasons why he cannot get into the team.

“I think he’d to play where Bruno Fernandes plays. I think the manager signed him as an attacking midfield player,” Scholes told the Webby and O’Neill YouTube channel.

“But it upsets the balance of the team and upsets the legs he has in midfield. I really think he wanted to play him with Fernandes but the two of them playing in the team, it just doesn’t seem to be working now.

“It’s difficult to make a case for Mason because he’s not played enough games, so trying to come on here and say ‘he should be playing’, I don’t know, because he hasn’t played. If he has a run of five, six, seven, eight games you can judge that a little bit more.”

The former United midfielder added that Mount playing in the team can leave the midfield open and that Ten Hag would need another holding midfielder if the no.7 is playing in the engine room.

“You have to get the balance of the team right, that’s the big struggle,” Scholes continued. “I think Ten Hag wants to play as many attackers as he can on the football pitch, which would mean one holding player and the rest attacking players, and Mason Mount would come into that.

“But it takes away the legs of the midfield, it really leaves them open. To bring someone like Mason Mount into the team you almost need two holding midfielders with him to get the balance of the team right.”

The 24-year-old will likely get his chance to impress in the coming weeks after Christian Eriksen picked up an injury before the international break.