Mason Mount is the real deal, there's no doubt about it

As football fans, we have a strange duality with our homegrown players.

We have a unique affinity with them. When a player is truly one of our own, they are given time, patience and affection - we want nothing more than to see them succeed and live out the dream.

On the other hand, though, we're guilty of imposing a glass ceiling that can mean they are rarely viewed in the same terms as our big-money imports.

Take Mason Mount, for example. Until very recently, you would have been hard pushed to find a Chelsea fan who believed he is a comparable talent to Hakim Ziyech or Kai Havertz.

But after his match-winning performance at Liverpool, there can no longer be any doubt about it.

It speaks to the midfielder's character that he is shining more than ever in a season that was supposed to bury him. After the arrivals of Ziyech, Havertz and Timo Werner, there wasn't meant to be room in the starting XI for Mount, Frank Lampard's pet project whose relevance would surely fade.

But that was a disservice to a player who made more appearances for Chelsea than any other last season, and he has shown us why in his performances under Thomas Tuchel.

Mount is a difficult player to pin down. If you were to ask ten Chelsea fans what his best attribute is, you would probably get a different answer each time. More and more, though, it is becoming clear that this is down to his eclectic range of abilities more than anything else.

Sure, he can decide a game at Anfield by bringing the ball in from the left and firing it across Alisson, but he will also run that game with his intelligent positioning and diverse passing range, and there's nothing anyone can do about it but watch.

It doesn't seem to matter where he plays either. Against Liverpool he was on the left of a front three, but he can play off the right, in the 10, or in a deeper midfield role. Yet despite his nomadic presence in the team, he has played more minutes than any other Chelsea player since the beginning of last season.

His versatility, reliability, and constant availability have allowed him to rack up the appearances like no-one's business: he's only 22, but he's already had two successful loan spells and looks set to make his 100th appearance for Chelsea this season.

He is always available, and provides a steady creative output along the way. Players like that don't come along every day, so when they do, it's best not to take them for granted.

Mount may never be Frank Lampard, he is treading his own path towards Stamford Bridge greatness.