Chelsea loanee Fikayo Tomori has taken centre-stage in the post-match chatter, on the back of AC Milan’s victory over AS Roma on Sunday.
Blues exit
English international Tomori of course departed Stamford Bridge late in January.
This came with the 23-year-old having fallen majorly down the central defensive pecking order in west London this season.
On the back of a solid campaign last time out, during which he racked up 22 appearances across all competitions, Tomori subsequently slipped behind all of new signing Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger in Frank Lampard’s list of options at the back.
In turn, just days before Thomas Tuchel’s arrival at the club, the gifted young stopper was farmed out on loan by Chelsea.
Tomori made the move to Italian giants AC Milan, where he will remain for the 2nd half of the campaign:
Good luck in Italy, @FikayoTomori_! 👊🇮🇹
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 22, 2021
‘Determined to defend well’
The stopper has since gone on to enjoy a fine start to life at the San Siro, with Tomori having been thrown in at the deep end amid a number of injury issues at the heart of Milan’s backline.
To this point, he has managed 7 appearances, including a trio of starts in Serie A.
The latest of these came on Sunday, when the Rossoneri made the trip to the Stadio Olimpico, for a crucial meeting with fellow top-4 challengers AS Roma.
Tomori was a surprise inclusion for the visitors, preferred to club captain Alessio Romagnoli as a partner for Simon Kjaer.
To say that the Chelsea man went on to repay the faith of manager Stefano Pioli, though, would be something of an understatement.
Tomori enjoyed a stellar evening, coming up with a number of crucial challenges and blocks, en route to a 2-1 Milan victory.
And, as outlined above, the Englishman’s contributions have since not gone at all unrecognised.
Speaking during a post-match analysis session, ex-Milan and Roma boss Fabio Capello joined the former’s fanbase in heaping praise on Tomori:
‘As a coach, I always wanted fast defenders. Milan have always had strong defensive departments. Baresi, Costacurta, Maldini, even Tassotti. If you have a pacey defender, you’re lucky. Tomori played a great game. The recovery on Borja Mayoral in the first half was impressive.’
‘Juventus stepped up when they signed Barzagli. He was faster than Bonucci and Chiellini, he made the difference. That’s my idea.’
Capello was backed by West Ham icon Paolo Di Canio, who hailed the Chelsea man’s ‘determination to defend well’:
‘I noticed his concentration and his aggressivity. He was never caught out of position. He was determined to defend well. He let his teammates breathe when he cleared the area. I think they have the feeling he is comfortable in in one vs. one situations as he can read the game well.’
Quotes via Football-Italia
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