Mason Mount is capable of becoming England’s Kevin De Bruyne, according to Jamie Redknapp, who highlighted similarities between the pair after the UEFA Nations League clash on Sunday.
England leapfrogged Belgium to the top of their group after picking up a 2-1 victory over the world’s highest-ranked team at Wembley.
The visitors seized the early initiative in the contest and were rewarded when Romelu Lukaku won a penalty after outpacing Eric Dier.
Dier’s clumsy challenge left the referee with no choice but to point to the spot, and Lukaku made no mistake from 12 yards as he cooly dispatched his shot past Jordan Pickford.
Belgium continued to dominate the first half until England were awarded a penalty of their own shortly before the interval, with Thomas Meunier penalised for holding Jordan Henderson back at a corner.
Marcus Rashford stepped up to level the scores, which seemed to spark fresh life into the home side who emerged after the break with a renewed sense of purpose.
The match-winning moment came when Kieran Trippier nodded a speculative cross back to Mount on the edge of the box, who shifted the ball onto his right foot before firing into the top right corner of the net with the aid of a wicked deflection off Toby Alderweireld.
The Chelsea midfielder also earned the man of the match award for England after a generally industrious performance.
De Bruyne meanwhile was the architect of all the most threatening attacks in the match for Belgium, and his delightful outside-of-the foot pass to play in Yannick Carrasco was arguably the standout moment of an otherwise subdued affair.
Redknapp thinks Mount has a lot in common with De Bruyne in terms of ability, and has urged him to ditch his overly-disciplined approach in order to affect games in the same way.
“They’ve (Belgium) got such an incredible player,” the former England international told Sky Sports. “We were purring watching some of Kevin De Bruyne’s passes. He was picking up pockets.
“When we talk about Mason Mount, I want him to do that more. Kevin De Bruyne is playing in a position in a three, but he was still getting licence to go and get the ball.
“Wherever the ball is, he’ll find it. Mason is that player who can do it for us, you don’t have to just stay on the right side, come inside.
“For the goal, that’s where he gets that fortune, which he deserved because he came inside and scored the goal.”
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