Reports | Gareth Southgate considering Fikayo Tomori for England call up
England manager Gareth Southgate is considering Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Tomori might join his Chelsea team-mates Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley in Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad.
According to the Telegraph, Gareth Southgate is supposed to announce the England squad on Thursday and has considered his options at the centre-back position. Fikayo Tomori might get Southgate’s nod along with Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Ross Barkley. The England squad might have a quartet of Chelsea youngsters in their ranks with Callum Hudson-Odoi likely to join them and take the number of the club's players to five before next summer’s Euros.
Chelsea’s transfer ban has seen manager Frank Lampard infuse Chelsea’s youth products into the first team and so far fans and pundits have witnessed positive effects. This has been good news Southgate as he too emphasizes on building a team with a majority of young players. The 22-year-old’s recent showing at the heart of defence has seen him promoted up the ladder and has now become amongst Lampard’s first-choice centre-backs.
Tomori has quickly jumped through the ranks after starting as the fourth choice centre-back behind Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger. The young defender has played international youth football for Canada, where he was born, and England, but he also qualifies for Nigeria. The 21-year old is keen to make an appearance for England whereas his team-mate Tammy Abraham who is eligible to play for England and Nigeria, is still undecided on his international future.