As he goes through his first season on loan at AC Milan, Fikayo Tomori hinted at the possibility to remain at the Italian club for good.
Even though Chelsea is a great club, Fikayo Tomori got to understand AC Milan’s greatness from a close distance. It didn’t take him long to know he currently plays for the second most successful club in European football. In a recent interview with The Times, Tomori hinted at the chance to choose Milan over the Blues: “Before I came here I spoke to Paolo Maldini,” Tomori told The Times newspaper.
“Obviously I knew it was a big club and he said it was a big club, but when I arrived and went to the museum at Casa Milan, and saw all the Ballons d’Or here, the pictures of the greats who have gone before, then the seven Champions League trophies, you really do feel it… Like, wow. When I go to the training ground and see the pictures and names on the wall of people who have set records, like [Andriy] Shevchenko, Maldini, Kaka and [Clarence] Seedorf, and I’m thinking that they’ve all been here, they’ve all sat in these changing rooms, played on these pitches. All those moments fill you with pride. You breathe it in.”
Tomori is in awe of Maldini and Zlatan.
“You feel Maldini’s presence. As much as I’m playing for myself and for the team and the manager, I want to impress him,” he added about AC Milan’s sporting director. “It’s like if you were an attacker and one day Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi was your sporting director and saying these words for you. It’s crazy. Before every game, he talks and says come on and says well done after. If I haven’t played well he’s still there saying well done. Now, I have the chance to play for AC Milan, play in Serie A, learning something new and having the likes of Ibrahimovic, [Mario] Mandzukic, and Paolo Maldini, to learn from.
“Ibrahimovic is a father figure for the squad. Even when he’s not playing, like now with the injury, he comes in the changing room and talks as if he’s starting the game. He’s got that aura, that persona. He’s motivating himself and that motivation radiates towards the team. When he’s around you feel his presence — it’s not intimidating or daunting, everyone wants to up their level, you want to reach that level and meet his expectations.”
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