Chelsea is reportedly set to hand young defender Fikayo Tomori a bumper new contract to extend his stay at Stamford Bridge.
The 21-year-old has enjoyed a stunning breakthrough year, having already appeared 16 times this season under Frank Lampard. The defender was on loan under Lampard at Derby County last season, while he has also spent previous spells with Hull City and Brighton.
After years of criticism aimed at Chelsea for not promoting players from their youth academy which has won a host of trophies at youth level Frank Lampard finally promoted a host of academy players from the club’s Cobham training base, with Tomori one of those to have benefitted from the manager’s faith.
Tomori will join Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Billy Gilmour and Jamie Cumming in having signed new deals under the new regime.
His performances have also seen him gain recognition at the full international level, with Tomori earning his first cap for England in their 4-0 win over Kosovo.
The 21-year-old will earn a pay rise as part of the new deal that puts him on the same level as the rest of the youngsters who have moved up to the first-team.
Tammy Abraham and Reece James could be next in line once Tomori’s contract is signed.
Tomori was unlucky to miss out on his side’s 2-1 win over Lille on Tuesday that saw them progress to the next round of the Champions League after he picked up a hip strain in training. The injury is understood not to be serious and the academy graduate is likely to feature against Bournemouth on Saturday.
