Rio Ferdinand has heaped praise on Fikayo Tomori for his meteoric rise to superstardom since leaving Chelsea for AC Milan, suggesting exactly why Levi Colwill should be central to the club's future. The 25-year-old swapped Stamford Bridge for the San Siro in January 2021 before making his move permanent a few months later for just £25million.
Despite having shown tremendous potential, Frank Lampard starved the defender of valuable game time. The Blues have since been left to rue the decision to let Tomori go, with the England international becoming one of Europe's top talents.
Colwill, who is tipped to be just as good as Tomori one day, will return to Cobham from his loan at Brighton in the summer. And, while the obvious decision is to usher the youngster into Chelsea starting lineup, doubt has been cast over his future in west London.
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With many supporters excited by the 20-year-old's return, fans are hoping that the Blues have learned from their mistake with Tomori. Speaking on BT Sport, the former Manchester United defender predicted Tomori to become a 'top centre-back'.
Ahead of AC Milan's clash against Inter in the Champions League semi-final, Ferdinand said: "You have to have character, you have to have resilience and you have to have that determination as a young player to go abroad.
"Michael [Owen]’s done it, he was speaking earlier about just having to adapt to the new culture within clubs and different countries. Amongst all of that he’s been hugely consistent for AC Milan, he’s been integral when they won the league.
"This season they’ve gone on this run, he’s played his part in that, and I think we look at England, I’ve spoken to people in Italy, they’ve watched many of his games and they can’t fathom why he’s not involved with the England team because he’s been so good for AC Milan.
"He’s a young defender who’s going to make mistakes still, but he’s on his journey to getting to that experienced level. When he’s 27 he’ll have all them games behind him, you’d hope he’d iron any mistakes out and I think we’ll see a real, top, top centre-back."
Earlier this month, Mauricio Pochettino emerged as the frontrunner for the vacant head coach position at Chelsea. The former Tottenham boss is widely acknowledged to have an excellent track record of managing young players, so the Argentine could easily save the club some money and secure the next 'top centre-back'.
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