Mason Mount has made an interesting claim about close friend and England teammate Declan Rice.
The pair have become two of England's brightest talents, Mount winning the Champions League with Chelsea this season and Rice guiding West Ham United into the Europa League.
The pair will now be teammates for the summer after both making Gareth Southgate's England squad for this summer's European Championships, but Mount has not kept that in mind when answering a question about EA Sports' FIFA game.
After joining Combat Gaming as a brand ambassador, Mount was asked if Rice would make it into his FIFA Ultimate Team, and he admitted that omit close friend wouldn't make it in.
“Dec [Rice] would not be in my FIFA Ultimate Team," he said.
"He would understand it… It’s got some Icons in, and I feel his card at the moment is not gonna fit in my team. He’d be on the bench… Or maybe reserves. (laughs)”
Although it seems harsh, Mount's decision is justified by Rice's 79 overall rating on FIFA 21 Ultimate Team, which is significantly lower than the special FUT 21 Icon cards like Patrick Vieira, Johan Cryuff and Zinedine Zidane, who are all in the mid 90's overall!
But, it might be a different story in real life, should Rice make a move to Chelsea this summer.
Rice has been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea to play alongside Mount at club level, with the Blues' interest going back to previous transfer windows.
Though, with West Ham now in Europe and demanding around £100million to start a conversation over Rice, a transfer does appear unlikely, with Chelsea looking to spend big on a top striker.
But there is some hope for Rice playing alongside Mount, though it will have to be limited to gaming for now with the West Ham star getting a call-up when it comes to Call of Duty.
“My squad for the next Combat tournament for the England team? Mingsy in there, Tyrone Mings. He’s a gamer," added Mount.
"And I’d have Dec in there, because he’s been in and around it, been in tournaments and played big players in a tournament. I feel like he’d know how to step up.”
Both Mount and Rice are expected to start for England during Euro 2020 this summer, but they may well remain on opposing sides come the start of the new Premier League campaign in August.
