Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori is on the verge of sealing a loan move to Serie A giants AC Milan, who will have the option of making the transfer permanent.
According to Sky Sports, Chelsea youngster Fikayo Tomori is poised to leave the club in the ongoing transfer window. The 23-year-old will be moving to Serie A leaders AC Milan on a loan deal till the end of the season, with the Rossoneri having the option of making it permanent for a fee of £25 million.
Tomori has been with Chelsea since 2005, coming through the youth ranks at the club, but had to wait to make an impression at the first-team level despite having made his debut in 2016. The centre-back had three loan spells away at Brighton & Hove Albion, Hull City and Derby County – which came under current Blues boss Frank Lampard in 2018/19.
After Lampard was made the Chelsea manager in 2019, Tomori got his big breakthrough at Stamford Bridge. He was a regular for the first half of last season and signed a new long-term deal with the club in December 2019. However, since the turn of the last year, the defender has seen his game time reduce drastically.
The arrival of Thiago Silva last summer has seen him get pushed further down the pecking order, with Tomori featuring just four times across all competitions in 2020/21.
Unhappy with his situation, the 23-year-old was angling for a move away from Stamford Bridge, with Lampard himself confirming earlier this month that a loan exit was a probability. “There’s a possibility he could be going on loan to get games somewhere else [but] that would have to be the right solution for him and the club,” he had said.
Tomori had attracted interest from a number of Premier League clubs, with Leeds United said to be the favourites to clinch his signing on loan. However, AC Milan, over the past couple of weeks, have upped their efforts to land the Chelsea ace, after primary target, RC Strasbourg’s Mohamed Simakan, was ruled out with an injury.
Now, the Rossoneri are close to capturing the 23-year-old’s loan signing. The club will also have the option of making the transfer permanent for a fee of £25 million, even though Lampard has insisted that he sees a long-term future for the academy product.
With Milan battling with injuries in the defensive department, Tomori stands to gain regular playing time in Lombardy, which will hold him in good stead in the long run. It only seems a matter of time before the deal goes through, barring any last-minute hiccup.
