Fikayo Tomori went from Chelsea’s most exciting center back to a ghost this season. To make it, he may need to take a step back now.
When the season was in its early stages, Fikayo Tomori was the rock on which Chelsea’s back line was built. The young English midfielder stepped in almost immediately and put himself into contention not just for the Blues, but for England and the Euros too.
Then around New Year’s he got an illness of some sort. He also was seemingly injured every time it was asked how he was doing. From the first of the year until the Covid break began, Tomori played just three times. After the Covid break, he did not play at all. His remaining 19 appearances all came before New Year’s Day.
It was an outstanding fall from grace for arguably Chelsea’s best defender for the first half of the season. It is still unclear what the illness was or if it has any connection to the injuries that came afterwards. There are rumors of other factors, most of which are just that: rumors. The only rumor that has any substance is he was dropped for mistakes on the field, which seems funny looking at how Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen have performed since. The only thing that is clear is Tomori may need to take a step back to make the step forward at Chelsea.
At 22, Tomori is already on the higher end of “youth prospect”. As a defender, he has more time than most but time is not on his side in the same way it is for Callum Hudson-Odoi or Mason Mount. With playing time being nonexistent for the defender, and Chelsea looking to reinforce sooner, a loan makes a great deal of sense. Yes, that is a step back from starting at Chelsea for most of the first half of the season. But that is where the situation is currently.
The most smoke seems to be coming out of West Ham, but it is also the easiest line of thought to follow. Chelsea wants Declan Rice. West Ham will then need a player to replace him. While the Englishman has played in midfield for the most part this season, West Ham may not reject a defender in his place. Enter Tomori.
The other option could be Everton who wanted Tomori this season and nearly got him too. Only David Luiz departing the club rather than competing for minutes kept Tomori around. Everton wanted to fill the hole left by Kurt Zouma returning to Chelsea and Tomori could still do that even a year later.
If Frank Lampard’s main issue with Tomori is mistakes on the field (again, ironic), then the only way to iron them out is playing time. He will not get it at Chelsea but he showed over the first half of the season that he is very much Premier League ready. If not West Ham or Everton, surely some other club would be willing to take a chance on him. Especially on loan since clubs will struggle to buy this summer.
Tomori needs those minutes. Yes, it is a step back in the grand scheme of things. But if he takes it and does well, he can return and give Lampard a selection headache once again.