Chelsea’s desire to sign Declan Rice to play in defence next season is inevitably going to cause a little concern among their current group of centre-backs and Fikayo Tomori has more reason to be perturbed than most.
After a strong start to life under coach Frank Lampard, starting 14 Premier League games before the turn of the year, he has played once in the league in 2020, with another two starts coming in the FA Cup.
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Injuries have played their part. A hamstring injury sustained in training before the restart to the campaign last month has meant he has sat out all five of Chelsea’s post-lockdown matches.
It is understood he has been back in full training for over a week and is feeling ready to feature again. However, Chelsea don’t want to rush things so the England international will not feature against Crystal Palace on Tuesday night either. The trip to Sheffield United four days later is deemed a more likely return.
Should Chelsea beat Manchester United in their FA Cup semi-final on July 19, that leaves Tomori with a maximum of seven games (coming back from 3-0 down against Bayern Munich in their last-16 Champions League tie is surely mission impossible?) in which to feature before 2019-20 comes to an end.
Even then, opportunities may be hard-fought. Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and Kurt Zouma are more match sharp having played over the last few weeks. With the battle for Champions League places and the FA Cup still rumbling on, Lampard will be reluctant to make more changes to a backline already lacking rhythm and confidence.
This has been quite a turn of events given Tomori signed a five-year deal as recently as last December. Back then, he was a regular in the team, yet now Chelsea are looking at bringing in Rice as a means to improve the goals against column next season. So what does this mean for Tomori?
Well, one thing that should be ruled out straight away is the centre-half leaving Stamford Bridge permanently. Lampard and the club value him too much for that to happen. He is an outstanding young talent and proved that with mature displays against Liverpool, Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur.
However, it is believed that Chelsea will consider sending him out on loan next season so that he can play more regularly. There is an appreciation of his vast potential — it is why he was given such a long deal after all — but more game-time is key for his development.
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News that Tomori is available is bound to arouse great interest due to the form he showed in the first half of the season, which led to him winning his first England cap against Kosovo in November.
Sources have suggested that Tomori could even be offered to West Ham United as a means of trying to help negotiations over Rice, who won’t come cheap, especially if David Moyes’ side retain their Premier League status.
Even if an agreement for Rice doesn’t materialise, defence is an area of the squad Lampard wants to improve. Should another centre-back arrive, Tomori will likely look for a loan move anyway.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that the 22-year-old was in advanced talks with Everton last August only for the move to be called off when Lampard decided David Luiz was no longer part of his plans.
With ambitions to represent England at the European Championship next summer, Chelsea and Tomori would want assurances of playing time before committing to a move elsewhere.
In February, The Athletic discussed possible reasons for his omission from the side. Back then, the statistics suggested he was weakest of the four in the air, with the figures showing Zouma had a record of winning 75.7 per cent of his aerial battles, Rudiger 58.3 per cent, Christensen 57.7 per cent, and Tomori 55 per cent.
There was also a feeling among the coaching staff that a few more mistakes had crept into his game and that he was guilty of losing concentration. The day after the article was published, Tomori was recalled to face Bournemouth. But he was substituted just past the hour mark following a disappointing performance.
The decision came seven minutes after he was caught hopelessly out of position during the build-up to Bournemouth’s second goal in the 2-2 draw. However, one observer told The Athletic how Lampard was heard shouting things like “wake up” in his direction on numerous occasions throughout the contest.
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When asked earlier that month about his decision to omit Tomori from the team, Lampard explained: “I have four centre-backs to choose from, so most weeks, two of them are unhappy. And then people question you when you stick with a back two or back three. There is competition in that area.
“With Fiks, he always has to train at the top level. That goes for all of the young players. When you are out of the team, however much it hurts, you need to show a good attitude and train very well. At the moment, he is showing those things and he has a long career ahead of him at this club, without a doubt. It’s been more about selection issues.”
Those selection issues will only become more complicated should Rice arrive in the next window. Don’t be surprised if Tomori is playing for someone else temporarily to improve his chances of playing at Chelsea over the long term.
(Photo: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
