AC Milan 'close in on £25m deal to make Fikayo Tomori's loan deal from Chelsea permanent'

AC Milan are closing in on signing Fikayo Tomori on a permanent deal from Chelsea following his impressive loan spell at the club, according to reports.

The 23-year-old joined the Serie A giants in January and went on to feature in 17 league games, scoring one goal in a 3-0 win at Juventus.

And now The Guardian journalist Fabrizio Romano claims Milan will complete a £25million deal soon, with the Canada-born defender joining on a five-year deal.

Milan boss Stefano Piolo had already confirmed the club’s desire to sign Tomori permanently, saying earlier this month: ‘We want to buy Tomori on a permanent deal from Chelsea.

‘Our intention is clear and also Fikayo’s decision [staying at Milan]. We’ll see what happens at the end of the season.’

Tomori joined the San Siro outfit having played just one Premier League game in the first half of the 2020-21 season for the Blues.

He had been sidelined to the fringes of the first-team squad under former boss Frank Lampard, who was replaced by Thomas Tuchel shortly after Tomori’s loan was confirmed. 

There was also support for Tomori – who made his senior England debut against Kosovo in November 2019 – to be called up to Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2020 this summer.

But he was ultimately left out of England’s 33-man squad – which will be cut to 26 players on Tuesday – that was named last week.

‘The private conversations I’ve had with players I’m not going to go into too much,’ Southgate revealed when asked why Ben Godfrey and Ben White were called up. 

‘They are both exciting young defenders. There are others we’ve been looking at who we really like. Esri Konza had a really good season at Villa, Fikayo has done well at Milan.

‘So these two are flexible and play in different roles – right, left and midfield in White’s case.

‘It’s a great opportunity for us to get to know them a bit better, for them to work with the team. It works for everybody.

‘There’s no way of knowing how long they’ll be with us at this stage but it should be a fantastic experience for all of them.’

Romano also claims Milan are also looking to sign striker Olivier Giroud from the Blues on a permanent deal too, having reportedly entered talks with the Frenchman’s representatives.

The 34-year-old World Cup winner – who was an unused substitute in Chelsea’s Champions League final win against Manchester City on Saturday – has been linked with an exit due to his lack of game time under Tuchel.