Fikayo Tomori reveals training with Zlatan is tough and nasty

AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori is preparing to make a journey he has become accustomed to in recent weeks. Picked to be part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad last month, he travelled from Milan to London and back again numerous times but without winning another cap, so at least Wednesday’s trip to the familiar surrounds of Stamford Bridge should guarantee some action in the colours of AC Milan.

“For me, it’s another chance, seeing some familiar faces, to show how I have developed,” Tomori says before the Champions League group E game against Chelsea, the club where he spent 16 years, developing from boy to man. “I know people have watched the games [in Milan] but going back to Stamford Bridge, where it all started, is a chance to show myself again.”

Tomori may feel the need to prove himself on numerous fronts. He returns to Chelsea for the first time since being pushed to the peripheries by Frank Lampard, the former manager, who let him leave on loan for Milan, where he won the Serie A title as a key figure in central defence.

Such performances caught the eye of Gareth Southgate, the England manager, but Tomori watched on from the sidelines last month during the Nations League games against Italy, at the San Siro — his new club’s home — and Germany at Wembley as Harry Maguire, the Manchester United captain dropped by his club, was selected ahead of him.

Milan quickly became home to Tomori. Learning the language was a priority for the central defender, who was speaking fluent Italian within 18 months, proving his confidence by recording broadcast interviews in the local tongue. “The language helps integrate me into the culture and into the team,” he says.

Training with Ibrahimovic, one of the game’s biggest characters, has been an educating experience for Tomori

The great Italian defender Paolo Maldini, now Milan’s sporting director, hand-picked Tomori and he was recently described in these pages as “one of the keys” to their scudetto by Giorgio Chiellini, the former Italy and Juventus centre back. His confidence, so dented by those final months at Chelsea, has been repaired.

“Being part of this team and feeling like I’m needed and wanted is personally a positive,” he says. “It leads into me feeling more confident and comfortable since I’ve been here. The Serie A title was a big part of that.”

He hopes for many more. Tomori’s future lies with Milan after signing a new five-year deal in the summer summer. “That signals how happy I am, how comfortable I am and where I see myself for the next few years,” he says. “The Premier League is the best league in the world, but for me right now being at AC Milan and in Serie A, learning the trade as a defender, is where I’m comfortable and is what’s best for me.”

This is a league and nation synonymous with defending. Arrigo Sacchi recently described Italian football as having “a culture of deadlock” but Tomori certainly sees the positives in his game.

“I think I’m cleverer,” he says. “Being on the pitch more helps  hat, but little fouls or positioning yourself in a way that makes the striker think — those kind of things have made me a bit cleverer, defending different kind of players that are probably nastier.

“But obviously training with Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] you can’t really be too timid because if you are then he’ll score ten goals or whatever it is in training, so you have to be a bit tougher, nasty in a sense.”

So Stamford Bridge will see a new Tomori . It willl not be the first time he has walked into the away dressing room, though, having played against Chelsea while out on loan in 2018. “I did it at Derby but to do it for AC Milan on a Champions League night is a bit different,” he says.

A reunion awaits with Mason Mount, Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah, who were among the group Tomori grew up with in the Chelsea academy, which he joined aged seven. But history will be put to one side. “Once you step over that white line and the first whistle goes it’s kind of like we’re not friends anymore,” he says. “We’re trying to fight for the three points.”

Points that are vitally important to Chelsea and their new head coach Graham Potter, whose side sit bottom of the group before this double header against Milan. Tomori didn’t play for Potter’s predecessor, Thomas Tuchel, but saw the reaction of fans to his dismissal.

“From what I’ve seen, people say it was a disappointment,” he says. “But having a manager like Graham Potter who did great things with Brighton — he made them a top team and played great football — I think him coming to Chelsea and doing the same thing will be a positive.