Should AC Milan buy Fikayo Tomori?
The History of the Role
AC Milan has a rich history of great defensive players. Cesare Maldini and his son Paolo are remembered as two of the greatest footballers in the history of this club; Franco Baresi, Alessandro Nesta and Thiago Silva are just a few other names that has being described as walls for the Red & Black goalkeepers through the years. Often a “not so great” goalkeeper has been able to break record after record just because of the people he had defending him. Just remember the Invincible AC Milan of the 90s, where Sebastiano Rossi was just a decent goalkeeper but a recordman for decades with over 900 consecutive minutes without being scored against in the Serie A.
The last few years of hard times
Of course, even great goalkeepers has been part of AC Milan history, and Nelson Dida is one of the greatest without a doubt. But the coming of one Gianluigi Donnarumma almost 6 years ago was a game changer. Almost to the point that no phenom was needed in the pack of defenders because there always is a keeper capable to prevent scoring from the other teams in unbelievable ways. In this last 6 years many defenders have wear the great Red&Black shirt but no one was able to even come close to the results that the people I mentioned before achieved. We had Mexes and Zapata, Musacchio and Caldara (who’s about to come back maybe?) and they were quite disappointing. But the most disappointing ones both were also named team captains one after the other. Leonardo Bonucci and then Alessio Romagnoli were promised as the saviors of the team. The pillar on which to build the future of the squad. The first one lasted one year and then came back to Juventus where he belongs (without leaving any mark whatsoever), while the last one is still the team captain but the performance are universally recognized as poor to say the least, in this season in particular.
The new air coming from London
This last transfer window brought a pleasant surprise with a name that is quite unreadable and a level of performance that is as remarkable as the name. Oluwafikayomi Oluwadamilola Tomori, aka Fikayo, came from Chelsea on loan with a right to be bought for 28 M € before next summer. And since he debuted, ice cold during a Coppa Italia derby against Inter, he practically never quit the starting eleven, and rightfully so. Tomori has all the potential to become the next big thing in AC Milan defensive pack: he’s quick, he has timing, strenght and he’s not afraid of anything. All qualities that can be found among the other defenders of AC Milan, but scattered among several other players. So the question is: Is Tomori worth 28M €? And the question is a resounding YES. This player is one for the ages, and AC Milan needs to spend all the money to buy him in the next months and build, around him, the future of his defensive department.