Scottish Premiership champions Celtic reportedly want Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori – who shone for England’s U21s against France.
The cynics may claim that Fikayo Tomori was at fault as England’s U21s suffered a dramatic 2-1 defeat to France in their European Championship opener on Tuesday night.
After all, Aidy Boothroyd’s team were a goal up thanks to Phil Foden’s spaghetti-legged magic before Tomori’s sloppy pass set off a chain of events which resulted in Hamza Choudhury’s red card and the Young Lions’ eventual collapse.
But it would be very harsh indeed to blame the Chelsea defender for a chastening loss. After all, his performance apart from that one lapse on concentration was nothing short of exceptional.
A hugely talented 21-year-old centre-back who was named Derby County’s Player of the Year during a 2018/19 loan spell at Pride Park, Tomori’s future is uncertain at Stamford Bridge.
Celtic are big fans, according to The Mirror (19 May, page 66), but they would have to pay £10 million to convince Chelsea to sell (The Mail). On last night’s evidence, however, Tomori most certainly has the talent and the potential to be a fitting club-record signing for the Scottish Premiership champions.
He was a joy to behold at times against a star-studded French attack. Tomori’s positional sense was superb throughout and he used his promising combination of rapid pace and perfect timing to make a number of key interceptions.
But that’s not all. Clearly, Tomori is hugely confident with the ball at his feet. He frequently weaved away from pressure and started attacks with some sublime passes from the back.
£10 million is asking a lot of Celtic. But it’s not often a young defender this impressive becomes available.
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