I worked hard to be accepted at the highest level- Tomori Fikayo

22-year-old, Tomori Fikayo revealed his journey to the top on chelseasfc.com, that he had to work harder to prove to himself and others that he belonged at the highest level.

“I wanted to challenge myself at the next level, which was the Premier League. I wanted to do it for Chelsea, the club that I’ve been at since I was eight; a club that’s won the Champions League, the Premier League, FA Cups, everything,” he said. 

He added that the period he’d spent away from the club on loan helped him prepare for the next challenge. 

“It was just about me feeling like I belonged and that I could play at this level. I had spent two-and-a-half years in the Championship and with Derby last season I managed to win Player of the Year and get to Wembley for the play-off final so I knew I’d had a good season.”

The young defender enjoyed a productive season in the Championship last term, helping Frank Lampard’s Derby County to the play-off final, where they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League, and being named the Rams’ Player of the Year.

However, there were still some eyebrows raised when Lampard confirmed Tomori would not be going back out on loan and would instead be part of the senior set up this season, particularly given the fact that he had only half an hour of top-flight football under his belt prior to the current campaign.

Tomori then featured in the six of Chelsea’s opening 10 games proving to be a solid addition to the Blues backline. 
 

‘If you train well, you can get in the team and if you play well then you’ll stay in the team. Having that breeds this friendly, competitive nature and spirit that we have and it can only be a positive thing.’