Sports
Is Mount the answer to what Amorim’s trying to do at Man United?
Erik ten Hag is the man who pushed Man United to sign Mason Mount from Chelsea in July 2023. So convinced was the Dutchman of Mount’s importance to the way he wanted to play that he still hasn’t shaken the belief that the midfielder’s unavailability during their time together at Old Trafford was one of the reasons Ten Hag eventually got the sack.
Mount was able to start only seven Premier League games in almost 15 months for Ten Hag. The former United boss still thinks — nearly a year on — that things might have been different had he been fit more often.
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Though he has been back in the United XI in recent weeks, Mount’s injury problems haven’t disappeared entirely since Ruben Amorim’s arrival. It has left Amorim in a similar situation to Ten Hag in trying to use the England international as much as possible, while simultaneously trying to reduce the risk of further spells on the sidelines. Even after scoring against Sunderland — his first goal of the season and his first ever Premier League goal at Old Trafford — Mount was substituted in the 66th minute.
It didn’t matter that he was playing well. Rather, it had already been decided that he couldn’t play for much longer than an hour.
“He did really well,” said Amorim afterward. “He had a number of minutes because we have to manage when a guy like Mason is returning from injury.”
For Amorim, keeping Mount on the pitch for an extra half an hour wasn’t worth it with a game against Liverpool at Anfield to come after the international break. It’s a potentially tricky start to a four-game run that also includes fixtures against Brighton & Hove Albion, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur, a stretch that could go a long way to deciding whether Amorim is still in charge at Christmas.
Mount was one of the first United players Amorim met at the club’s Carrington training ground when he arrived in Manchester to take over from Ten Hag in November 2024. In the middle of another period of injury recovery, Mount was in the gym at the training ground while most of his teammates were either on holiday or international duty. It was the first glimpse of an attitude that Amorim has grown to love.
The Portuguese coach has tried to cleanse the dressing room of what he has viewed as negative influences. It resulted in the departures of both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. Mount, meanwhile, has been held up as an example of what he wants in his squad. The England star has attended team meetings even when injured in order to give himself the best chance of quickly slotting back into the team.
The 26-year-old is often the last player to leave Carrington because of the long ice baths and saunas he takes after training in an effort to stay fit. Rather than jetting off during the international break, he chose to spend the downtime with his family and on the golf course.
Mount has also taken it upon himself to help other players understand Amorim’s system, having played in a similar tactical setup under Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea.
“I think I have the experience of playing a similar formation to what [Amorim] likes,” Mount said after his goal against Sunderland. “I have played it before in the past. So, knowing the roles and what he wants out of the team resonates with me because I’ve done it before.
“I think at the beginning, especially, it was something that maybe [Amorim] could lean on me [for] because I know the positions.”
As well as knowing the system, Mount offers Amorim something different. He was picked to start against Sunderland in place of £62.5 million summer signing Matheus Cunha.
It wasn’t a straightforward decision. Despite United’s problems so far this season, Cunha has been good, but he’s a forward rather than a midfielder. For Mount, it’s the other way around.
With both Cunha and fellow summer signing Bryan Mbeumo in the team, United have more of an attacking threat. Mount, though, knows how to press effectively, shut down space out of possession and help the two deeper midfielders — usually Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro — when United are being overrun. It’s a vital ingredient for a system that is up against a three-man midfield most weeks in the Premier League.
“I think Mason Mount can give us more of a midfielder than a winger or a striker,” said Amorim after beating Sunderland. “He can defend really well. He is really smart, he can attack really well. It is the characteristics we are going to change when we look at every opponent.”
The “characteristics” Amorim felt he needed in a pressurized moment against Sunderland will also be needed at Anfield this weekend.
“I see myself as bringing a lot of energy into the team and setting off the press at times, being a bit of a catalyst going forward,” Mount said when asked about Amorim’s assessment.
“That’s always something that I focus on, helping the people around me and really bringing the energy.”
Energy is one of the things Amorim has asked of his players, particularly at the beginning of games. Over the course of his 11-month reign, Amorim’s team has conceded the first goal in 22 of his 34 Premier League matches, often leaving United in a hole before they’ve really started playing.
Amorim has made the point before — privately to his squad and in news conferences — that United doesn’t deal well with setbacks. So the need to be on the front foot right away is even more important.
Mount will be asked to be a key part of that effort against Liverpool on Sunday, just like he was against Sunderland, when he capitalized on United’s first clear opportunity to score after just eight minutes. A big performance at Anfield would be another nod to Tuchel that Mount deserves an England recall in the months before the World Cup.
The pair had a long conversation after Mount impressed against Arsenal on the opening weekend of the season, and the prospect of a place on the plane to North America next summer is still there. Tuchel knows all about his qualities after making him a central part of the Chelsea team, which won the UEFA Champions League in 2021.
It will be little consolation for Ten Hag, who never saw the best of Mount, but he’s finally showing how important he can be for his United successor.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his call for Congress to pass legislation that would rein in college sports at a time athletes are allowed to move freely from school to school and command salaries that put athletic departments in financial peril.
Trump’s remarks came at a White House event honoring some 100 athletes from seven teams that won NCAA championships in 2025.
Trump this month signed an executive order that would limit eligibility to five years, allow one transfer without penalty for undergraduates, stop pay-for-play schemes and build in protections for women’s and Olympic sports.
Aspects of the executive order might not withstand legal scrutiny, which is why Trump and some college sports stakeholders are asking for federal legislation that would codify restrictions and grant the NCAA an antitrust exemption to enforce rules.
Dozens of athletes have challenged NCAA eligibility rules with the hope of extending their college careers and, in turn, their ability to earn money through name, image and likeness deals. He said it’s unfair for athletes right out of high school to compete against 28- or 29-year-olds.
“It’s a very precarious position the courts have left us in,” Trump said, adding that the 2025 settlement of House v. the NCAA created a professional model that has led to financial instability for colleges. “And now it’s a total and complete mess. But we’re going to get it fixed up and we’ve got fantastic people doing it. So we need now Congress to act to clear up the confusion created by the courts and institute permanent reforms to protect college sports at every level, especially some sports.”
The national championship teams honored were Oklahoma State in men’s golf, Texas A&M in women’s volleyball, Wake Forest in men’s tennis, Georgia in women’s tennis, Youngstown State in women’s bowling, Florida State in women’s soccer and West Virginia in mixed rifle.
“Seventy-five percent of Olympians competing for Team USA played as college athletes,” Trump said. “If we don’t straighten out this, we’re not going to have much of an Olympic team because you have so many of these sports, especially certain sports where it’s like the minor leagues, call it the major leagues, whatever you want. But we’ve trained unbelievable athletes to go in and win the gold medal. Without college sports and without your ability to go into college sports and compete and learn how to play and get better, we’re not going to have much of an Olympic team anymore.”
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Eli Manning retired in 2019 and missed out in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 2025. He was passed over again earlier this year but still fired back at a fan who claimed one of his contemporaries was the better quarterback.
On Tuesday, a social media user floated a theory about former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan, who now oversees football operations as the team’s president, last played in an NFL game in 2022. He announced his retirement in 2024, making him eligible for Hall of Fame consideration beginning in 2028.
“Matt Ryan was a better QB than Eli Manning… people just worship rings. Agree or nah,” the post read.
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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning greets Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan after their game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Oct. 22, 2018. (Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports)
Manning caught wind of the suggestion and weighed in, pointing to the two Super Bowl-winning teams he was part of during his standout run with the New York Giants.
“I will ponder this while I play with my rings…,” Manning wrote in a quote-tweet.
Ryan’s statistical production surpasses Manning’s, at least on paper. He was named NFL MVP in 2016, an honor Manning never earned. Ryan is also the most accomplished player in Falcons history and finished his career with more than 62,000 regular-season passing yards, compared with Manning’s 57,023.
NFC head coach Eli Manning leads a huddle during a practice session before the NFL Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Both quarterbacks were selected to four Pro Bowls, but the key difference lies in championships. Manning won the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011, while Ryan reached it once but fell short. Manning threw for a single season career-best 4,933 during the run leading up to the second Super Bowl title.
Ryan threw for 284 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions to help the Falcons build a 25-point lead in the championship game — a matchup remembered for the New England Patriots engineering the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passes the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Jan. 2, 2022. (Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports)
Manning struck a measured tone in February when discussing his Hall of Fame chances.
“If I never get in the Hall of Fame, it’s not going to change anything,” Manning told Forbes. “I’m not gonna be bitter or mad or upset, and if I do get in, it would just be an unbelievable honor to be associated with some of the great athletes and football players ever. But it’s not going to change my outlook or my approach to how I feel about the game of football.”
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The Falcons have reached the Super Bowl twice in franchise history, first in 1998, but the team is still chasing its first elusive championship.
The Giants marked their 100th season in 2024, winning four Super Bowls over the franchise’s century-long history.
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Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell has committed to Duke, he told ESPN on Tuesday.
Blackwell, who visited Duke on Monday, was the best guard to enter the transfer portal this spring.
“It just felt right,” Blackwell told ESPN. “It felt like the right situation for me. I just connected with Coach [Jon Scheyer] on a different level. We built a connection in these past weeks of just talking to him and him selling why Duke is the right spot for me. Me taking this visit was just confirmation on why I should be at Duke.”
Blackwell, a 6-foot-4 guard, earned third-team All-Big Ten honors this past season after averaging a career-high 19.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists, shooting nearly 39% from 3-point range.
He was at his best in the postseason. Blackwell had 34 points and 10 rebounds in the third round of the Big Ten tournament against Washington, following it with 31 points on 9-for-17 shooting in an overtime win over Illinois. While Wisconsin was upset by 12-seed High Point in the first round of the men’s NCAA tournament, Blackwell finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Panthers.
Blackwell, who is represented by Todd Ramasar and Alexis Liatsos at Life Sports Agency, will have the opportunity to carry that momentum over to Duke.
“Their pitch to me was, come here, have freedom,” Blackwell said. “You can come here and be a draft pick, and that’s always my dream. Come here and help us win a national championship. Those are just things I love to hear. I love the campus, I love the people surrounding Duke. That’s why I made my choice to be a Blue Devil.”
Blackwell, who is still going through the NBA draft process, is joining a backcourt that includes returnees Caleb Foster (8.3 PPG) and Cayden Boozer (7.7 PPG), as well as five-star recruit Deron Rippey Jr. The junior guard said when he entered the portal that he wants to show more on-ball responsibility, meaning Scheyer will have plenty of options as playmakers next season.
“They have four PGs. I would consider myself a point guard,” Blackwell said. “We’re just going to push each other everyday. [When you] have a deep backcourt like we’re going to have, it’s going to be a matchup nightmare for teams. I’m just so excited to play with those guys and challenge those guys. And they challenge me every single day.”
Scheyer has been reloading his roster since last month’s Elite Eight loss to UConn. Projected top-five pick Cameron Boozer is out the door, with projected first-rounder Isaiah Evans expected to follow. Maliq Brown is out of eligibility and freshman Nikolas Khamenia entered the portal and transferred to UConn.
But Duke received positive news on Monday with the return of honorable mention All-ACC big man Patrick Ngongba II, while Cayden Boozer, Foster and potentially Dame Sarr are also likely to return to Durham.
The Blue Devils are also bringing in the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class, led by three top-25 seniors, and added Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski this past weekend.
But Scheyer desperately needed a high-level scorer to round out his roster, an experienced bucket-getter to lead the offense. And he landed the best one on the market in Blackwell.
“Their track record with producing pros definitely played a part in it,” he said. “Not so much with them producing pros, but them developing pros. I don’t think at any other school, there’s only a few, where you can get that certain level of development. That’s major for me.”
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