The Athletic’s Chelsea journalist Liam Twomey has been discussing Fikayo Tomori’s recent decision to turn down a loan move to West Ham United.
This comes after Twomey recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast to talk about a number of topics concerning Frank Lampard’s side.
After it was revealed that Tomori called off a loan move to West Ham just before the domestic transfer window ended, Twomey had this to say on the situation.
He said: “That’s our understanding that it was very much Tomori’s decision to stay at Chelsea and try to fight for his place and while Lampard would have been aware at that point that [Antonio] Rudiger wasn’t going anywhere, either, I think it’s probably fair to say that Tomori, part of his justification for that decision would be the conversations he’s had with Lampard and the fact that Lampard has made it so clear that he rates him and wants to give him an opportunity to contribute to the team again this season.
“I don’t think Tomori would have made the decision to stay if he didn’t think that Lampard was going to give him a fair chance to compete for minutes.”
A deal between West Ham and Chelsea was reportedly in place with a ‘huge’ loan fee before Tomori decided at the last minute to stay at Chelsea and fight for his place at Stamford Bridge as Twomey mentioned in the podcast.
Throughout his career, Tomori has had loan spells at clubs such as Brighton & Hove Albion, Hull City and Derby County.
Overall, the 22-year-old centre-half, who is currently valued at £18 million, has made 26 senior appearances for Chelsea in which he has managed to grab himself two goals and provide one assist (per Transfermarkt).
Last season, Tomori made 15 appearances for Chelsea in the Premier League and earned himself a respectable season rating of 6.88/10 for his performances (per WhoScored).
Are you disappointed Tomori turned down a loan move to West Ham?
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TIF Thoughts on Liam Twomey’s comments on Tomori’s decision to pull out of a loan move to West Ham…
If Tomori was told that he is an important part of Chelsea’s squad and would get sufficient playing time this season, then it would make sense that he would want to stay at his club.
Moving forward, it’ll be interesting to see just how many times Tomori will play for Chelsea in the Premier League this season.