Tomori shines for Milan as Maldini sends Chelsea pointed transfer message
Paolo Maldini has claimed he will hold talks with the Chelsea board over potentially lowering the buy-out clause in Fikayo Tomori’s loan deal.
The central defender joined the Italian giants in January, signing on loan for the remainder of the season.
Milan do have the option to make the deal permanent, with a clause believed to be in the region of £26million.
Tomori has impressed for the Rossoneri, starting their last two games in the heart of Stefano Pioli’s defence.
The 23-year-old replaced skipper Alessio Romagnoli for Milan’s 2-1 win over Roma on Sunday, helping to strengthen their grip on second place in the Serie A table.
“I expected this performance, because Tomori played a derby a couple of days after joining us, so he's been at this level from the start,” Pioli said after the win.
“I still believe it's the collective that allows the individual to perform and all together we won a very important match.
“Roma have players with a lot of pace and quality in attack, so we knew that we were taking a risk, but we also recovered more balls in the opposition half – finally – and were therefore more dangerous in attack.”
Meanwhile, Milan’s technical director Paolo Maldini has confirmed that a decision is still to be made on Tomori’s long-term future, hinting at boardroom level talks.
He said: “Fikayo is a player with particular characteristics, pace and intensity, so we thought he could be a good reinforcement for this second half of the season.
“Naturally, Romagnoli isn’t happy, no player is when he doesn’t play. However, Milan are 17 points better off than last season, we’re second despite having more commitments and many injuries, so squad rotation is necessary and Alessio has played pretty much every game.”
On negotiations with Chelsea, Maldini added: “We have an option to buy for Tomori, it’s up to us to evaluate whether we activate it or not.
"The price is very high. AC Milan will decide at the end of this season and we will discuss it with Chelsea's board."
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Tomori enjoyed a breakthrough season under Frank Lampard last year, but struggled for game time following the summer arrival of Thiago Silva.
He was then allowed to leave the club temporarily, with new Blues boss Thomas Tuchel confirming they will hold talks about his future later in the season.
"We will have this talk in the next weeks and months about all the guys who are on loan,” Tuchel said, shortly after replacing Lampard. “But of course, I have a general impression of Tomori, which is that he has high, high potential, but I'm not into details right now. The time will come for that."
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