My father doubles as football fan and analyst-Fikayo Tomori
Nigeria born England international Fikayo Tomori has revealed that his father’s input into his early days in football paid off even as he lauded Chelsea manager Frank Lampard for giving him the confidence to emerge as one the club’s breakthrough stars this season.
Tomori Senior according Fikayo loves watching and analysing football adding that he actually convinced him to settle for his natural centre-back as opposed to playing midfielder’s role which tickled his fancy at a time.
‘I was always playing centre back when I was 14 but I wanted to be in midfield,’ he continued.
‘My dad asked “what was wrong with that? It’s natural for you to play centre back.” He’s more of a watcher than a player. He’s that kind of person, likes to watch the game and analyse it. I’ve got the manager to help me with that as well but he’s good pretty good input to be fair.’
Despite making his Blues debut in the final game of the 2015-16 season, it was only this term the 22-year-old was given another chance to shine at Stamford Bridge under Lampard.
He has since played 22 times across all competitions for the Blues and admits the experience has boosted his confidence significantly having earned the trust of Lampard last term when he was on loan at Derby County under the then Rams boss.
‘Coming into the season I knew I was going to challenge myself even more,’ he told the Football Show.
‘I didn’t know if that was going to be at Chelsea or not. It was the first time I’d spent the whole pre-season with the first-team squad. To feel like I was part of the team grew my confidence.
Tomori also added that being around other breakthrough stars including Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham has also helped his progress in being part of a Chelsea team that was riding high before the sudden hult by covid-19.
Read AlsoFikayo Tomori signs new five-year contract with Chelsea
Tomori and and fellow Nigeria born teammate Tammy Abraham it will be recalled came close to making a choice to play for the Super Eagles before pitching tent with the Three Lions.