Mason Mount has say on isolation frustration after chat with Billy Gilmour at Wembley

Mason Mount has opened up on being forced to isolate for ten days in the midst of the tournament England will strive to win against Italy tonight.

England's midfielder Mason Mount was forced to quarantine after being deemed to have come into close contact with Scotland's Billy Gilmour after last month's 0-0 draw at Wembley. Gilmour tested positive for Covid two days later (Photo by CARL RECINE / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARL RECINE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chelsea midfielder is hoping to complete a rare double by winning both the Champions League and the European Championships in the same year. Only nine players have achieved this to date, the majority of them Spanish. Mount has also already won the Euros at Under-19 level.

But his future participation in this summer’s competition was placed in severe jeopardy when he and Ben Chilwell were judged to be close contacts of Scotland’s Billy Gilmour after the Chelsea teammates spent time speaking together after the goalless draw between England and Scotland in the group stage. The Scottish midfielder tested positive for Covid two days later.

While Chilwell has not appeared in the tournament so far, Mount has started all of England’s games except the Czech Republic and Germany matches he missed due to quarantining.

There are clearly no hard feelings between him and Gilmour, who missed Scotland’s final must-win group game against Croatia.

"Obviously it was frustrating to find out obviously that I had to do that, but it was something that I had to do,” Mount explained.

"Looking when it first happened, I was just trying to stay positive and not really look at the negative side of it.

"Obviously the boys had a massive game coming up the next day and we - me and obviously Chilly as well - just wanted to be there for the boys, support them and help them prepare for the game (v Czech Republic).

"When we got through that and we knew the next game was I think Germany, just being involved in the meetings virtually, being around the boys, obviously virtually, just listening to the game plans and everything like that, it really helped for us to stay positive.

“Obviously we were lucky to be able to go out and train, and to stay fit,” he added. “It was still very boring in the room for a lot of the time, watching a lot of films.”

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