Chelsea reluctant to drop agreed Fikayo Tomori price for AC Milan sale

Chelsea are expected to insist that AC Milan pay the full £26m (€30m) option to make the loan signing of centre-back Fikayo Tomori a permanent one this summer, rather than accept an offer below that pre-agreed figure.

Tomori lost his place at Chelsea quite suddenly in December 2019 and had only played 45 minutes of Premier League football in the first half of this season prior to sealing his January loan switch to Milan, with even a change of manager at Stamford Bridge not changing his fortunes.

The 23-year-old, who was called up by England in 2019 soon after his brief Chelsea breakthrough, has been a regular starter for Milan and has seemingly impressed Rossoneri officials.

Goal has reported that Milan are ‘keen’ to make it a permanent deal at the end of the season. It is said that while formal talks are yet to begin, the Serie A side are ‘delighted’ with the impact the centre-back has made in only a short space of time.

The £26m (€30m) option for summer was agreed at the time of the original loan deal in January and the report adds that Chelsea are reluctant to give any discount on that price because of Tomori’s form. Milan are therefore not likely to get anywhere if they try to negotiate it down.

Whether Milan have the resources to meet the premium price is unclear, but the general lack of full transfer budgets across Europe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to keep the market deflated and Chelsea may struggle to find any buyer willing to pay £26m.

The alternative would be to bring Tomori back into the Chelsea side next season, although there is already potential for an overhaul in the defensive ranks with several possible ins and outs.

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