Fikayo Tomori: The driven and determined Chelsea wonderkid who can be compared to John Terry and once broke – talkSPORT.com

Posted: November 2, 2019 at 12:49 am


without comments

Fikayo Tomori is living out his dream as a Chelsea player and has been one of their standout success stories this season.

The 21-year-old centre-back has been one of the beneficiaries of Frank Lampard being named as Blues manager at the start of the season.

Getty Images - Getty

He was with Lampard on loan at Derby last season and was named their player of the year, ahead of team-mate Mason Mount.

And after his performances this campaign, a tweet from seven years ago surfaced that showed just how much being a Chelsea player means to him.

He wrote: Been at Chelsea since I was 8. Now I am 14, 6 years and this is just the beginning. Dream; Believe; Achieve.

There are certainly comparisons that can be drawn with John Terry, who made his Chelsea debut 20 years ago this week.

He has already established himself as a first-team regular at the Blues and is set for his 12th appearance of the season against Watford on Saturday, which is live on talkSPORT.

Tomori is different and here at talkSPORT.com we have taken a look at what sets him apart from the rest.

The defender was born in Calgary, Canada, and is also eligible to play for Nigeria through his parents but has committed to play for England.

Tomori went completely under the radar with our national coaches and was actually playing for Canadas Under-20s against England when they were alerted to his talent.

He kept an 18-year-old Marcus Rashford quiet all night at the Keepmoat Stadium in March 2016, when the striker had recently scored the winner in a Manchester derby and netted twice in his Premier League debut against Arsenal.

Tomori never played for Canada after that and an Under-20 World Cup winners medal soon followed with England.

Former Canada Under-20s coach Rob Gale told the BBC: I did find it strange that he hadnt been looked at at any age group with England, but straight away you could see he was eager to learn, had a great self-awareness and was a very level-headed kid.

Getty Images - Getty

Even while on loan at Derby last season he went a little under the radar with Mason Mount the player who was making the headlines.

The fact he was named their Player of the Season, as they lost out in the Championship play-off final, speaks volumes for his character.

The weekend starts with talkSPORT where SIX games are live across the network

Barnsley vs Bristol City (Friday, 7.45pm) talkSPORT 2

Bournemouth vs Man United (Saturday, 12.30pm) talkSPORT

Wigan vs Swansea (Saturday, 12.30pm) talkSPORT 2

Arsenal vs Wolves (Saturday, 3pm) talkSPORT 2

Watford vs Chelsea (Saturday, 5.30pm) talkSPORT

Charlton vs Preston (Sunday, 12pm) talkSPORT 2

Most young footballers spend a lot of time playing video games while away from training.

There is of course nothing wrong with that but Tomori is slightly different from the rest as he is studying for a business management degree with the Open University.

Football is not going to go on forever, Tomori revealed while on England duty in October. Whenever I retire, or if I get an injury I have something Im working towards that can stand me in good stead for the future. I spend about eight to 10 hours a week, reading all the time, trying to learn new things.

Getty Images - Getty

Tomori has had a dream start to life in the Chelsea first team and has been repaying the faith shown to him by Frank Lampard.

He is already endearing himself to the fans because of his hard work and performances on the pitch.

Lampard revealed that he is a quiet person but was a popular figure in the Derby dressing room last season.

He said: He was quiet at Derby. He was quite quiet with me he wasnt quiet when they were all together. From a distance, he has definitely got personality.

The weekend starts with talkSPORT where SIX games are live across the network

Barnsley vs Bristol City (Friday, 7.45pm) talkSPORT 2

Bournemouth vs Man United (Saturday, 12.30pm) talkSPORT

Wigan vs Swansea (Saturday, 12.30pm) talkSPORT 2

Arsenal vs Wolves (Saturday, 3pm) talkSPORT 2

Watford vs Chelsea (Saturday, 5.30pm) talkSPORT

Charlton vs Preston (Sunday, 12pm) talkSPORT 2

And that group last year, the group he was in at Derby, he became very popular in the dressing room and popular with the fans because of his performances.

He was Player of the Year. The progression was huge but the main thing I saw in him was work ethic. He quietly goes about his business. He trains hard, everything you ask him to do he tries to do and more.

Tomori does his talking on the pitch and if his career stays on his current trajectory there is no reason why he cannot be a Chelsea legend in the making.

Lampard added: How you train will relate to whether you get picked. Those are the rules here. You have to train at a level and he trained so well for a period of time he deserved it (his full debut). Then he gave me a big problem because he played so well and he has continued to do that.

Yes, he is a project in a way but a nice one because everything you want him to do, he stands up and delivers.

There are certainly comparisons to be drawn with John Terry, he was a man who delivered every time Chelsea needed him to.

Getty Images - Getty

Tomori revealed how he had broken the former Chelsea strikers nose when he was still a teenager in school.

He told Goal: I was actually still in school, and I didnt know I had done it in training.

It was an accident, we both went up for a header, and I had to flick the ball backwards and he tried to score.

He headed the back of my head and he broke his nose. I didnt know I had done it until the next day when it was all over the papers.

I was getting a lot of messages with people thinking I had meant to do it! It was mostly light-hearted, a lot of banter.

I got back to school and people were asking about it. I was in year 10 or 11 and my mates had all seen it.

It was alright. He didnt kick me in training after that.

Diego Costa could start a fight in an empty room, so it is nothing short of a miracle he escaped unharmed by this encounter.

Saturday is GameDay on talkSPORT as we bring you THREE live Premier League commentaries across our network, including Watford vs Chelsea at 5:30pm

See the original post here:
Fikayo Tomori: The driven and determined Chelsea wonderkid who can be compared to John Terry and once broke - talkSPORT.com

Related Posts

Written by admin |

November 2nd, 2019 at 12:49 am

Posted in Self-Awareness




matomo tracker