Chelsea loanee Tomori hailed in Italy: €28m seems like a bargain

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:40 CDT
• 3 min read

Fikayo Tomori has won over any doubters that he had after moving to Milan on loan from Chelsea.

Virtually frozen out at Stamford Bridge before he completed a January deal that took him to San Siro, playing only 44 minutes in the Premier League, the 23-year-old Tomori has rapidly established himself as a player to watch in Stefano Pioli’s San Siro side.

READ MORE: Chelsea players on loan: How Tomori, Barkley and Co. are performing

Indeed, he has started four of the last five Serie A matches, helping the Rossoneri to three away victories as they chase the domestic title.

And the once-capped England international has clearly made a strong impression in a country famed for its outstanding defenders.

Tomori ‘plays with disarming ease’

A feature in Gazetta dello Sport, written by Marco Pasotto, explains: “Among the things that surprised Pioli most was the speed at which he broke into the Rossoneri team and understood the mechanisms of Serie A. He plays with disarming ease, as if he has been here for years.

“And thanks to this fluency, Tomori scored two remarkable blows in a few weeks. First, he confirmed Alessio Romagnoli, who is the captain of Milan, to the bench, and then he definitively convinced everyone – from the coach to the owners – of the opportunity to sign him from Chelsea in the summer.

“In this sense, the general perception of the amount to be paid to the Blues is emblematic of his success. If a couple of months ago, those €28 million seemed an excessive – almost exorbitant – amount for a largely unknown boy who only arrived at Milanello due to an injury to the Rossoneri’s first choice signing (Mohamed Simakan), now it seems like a bargain.”

Previously director Frederic Massara had described the price as “very high”.

Milan, though, are now well on course to wrapping up a deal for Tomori – and they feel they are getting a fine price for the Chelsea star to boot.