Fikayo Tomori’s performance during the dramatic win over Fiorentina at the weekend was in many ways perfectly emblematic of his season so far at AC Milan, a report has claimed.
MilanNews recall how Tomori drew praise for his heroics as he made a desperate tackle on Jonathan Ikone that he timed just right to get a piece of the ball, and then he denied the French winger again with a block on the line just as he had curled it around Ciprian Tatarusanu.
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Tomori has had a fluctuating start to the season in truth and the last match at San Siro symbolised it. There is no doubting that the Englishman is a leader at the back and in the dressing room as he is always fired up in celebrations, while his aggressive style of play and determination also show what Milan want from their young players.
His performances have been up and down overall but the constant rotation of partners alongside him between Pierre Kalulu, Matteo Gabbia, Simon Kjaer and most recently Malick Thiaw cannot help chemistry and cohesion, something which can make him overcompensate from a positional point of view.
It could also be the case that Tomori got caught up in the enthusiasm of wanting to prove at all costs that he should be in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the World Cup and gave everything so that he got the call, even at the cost of taking some more risks.
However, the Three Lions coach left Tomori at home preferring Harry Maguire, Conor Coady, Ben White and Eric Dier over a player who was a huge part of the joint-best defensive side in Serie A last season and of course a Scudetto-winning side.
The former Chelsea man now has a 2023 ahead of him in which to demonstrate to everyone that he is one of the best defenders in the Italian league and one of the most promising on the international scene, perhaps even with the aim of making Southgate (or whoever is in charge) consider him more seriously.
If anything, at least regarding the English World Cup call, Tomori has been scrutinised and exposed by his positional errors; some very obvious and costly. In serieA he may still escape few of those eg Icone tackle, but on a higher level most of them were/ can be quite costly eg Chelsea match.
He is our best defender with great potentials which are still to be fully displayed. I was very optimistic when he joined ACM on loan. Just hope he will master the tactical aspect of his game; he plays in Italy so I ‘d be surprised if he won’t.
To have adapted so well at such a young age to such a different league / country is very impressive. I can see Tomori going on to become an all-time great for the club.
He should please consider my country Nigeria