Nizaar Kinsella, a writer that covers Chelsea football for goal.com, sat down with the Milan Reports Twitch team to discuss Chelsea's loanee, and new Rossoneri star, Fikayo Tomori. Milan's management, as well as the fanbase, have favorable remarks regarding the English defender since his loan spell started in January. Chelsea loaned their English center back during the January transfer window to Milan with a €30 million option to buy. It is apparent that Milan are interested in exercising this option come the end of the season. Kinsella was helpful in giving a Chelsea fan's point of view on the situation and how he expects his club's front office to handle the possible purchase.
When asked about if Milan will be able to afford the purchase price and if Chelsea would be willing to come down on their asking price:
“I think the best case scenario is for Milan is to maybe spread the payments, but it is absolutely not possible to get a discount. Marina Granovskaia is the negotiator here, sometimes she’s too stubborn with the negotiations and you see the player go free a few years later, Bakayoko is case in point actually with that. She always tries to go with the big money whenever she can, she’s a strong negotiator. If Milan were about to get a spread out of the payments it would be due to some masterful negotiation, it would also say a lot about the relationship between the two clubs. Chelsea have a lot of partnerships with other European clubs, so maybe can become that though this deal,".
When asked about the defender's stance on the situation:
"For Tomori, I know he would happily go there. You can see he’s got a smile on his face and looks the part when he’s there. I think he’d be happy to go and stay there. He’s a different kind of English football. He’s so intelligent, so clever about the world culturally, he’s just cut a bit differently,".
When asked about how the club and Chelsea fanbase views the situation:
"With Chelsea, I don’t think Thomas Tuchel has much of a say here . I think they’re a bit divided on Tomori. Some would be absolutely delighted to sell him and get the money, but I think there’s a good amount of people at Chelsea who wish he would stay, which is partly why Chelsea won’t let him go for cheap, because they know that when they sell him to AC Milan that he’s going to be very good for AC Milan. They know he’s gonna be quite unpopular with certain sections of the fans and even with some in the club. I think that sets up the picture with what people at Chelsea think of Tomori. Some think he’s essentially better than Rudiger and Christensen, Thiago silva is getting old as well. Chelsea are looking for center backs in the transfer window and if you sell Tomori and he does well, then that reflects badly on Chelsea. So, all of these things are at play now with Chelsea and Tomori,".
In regards to how he thinks the deal will shape up at the end, he had this insight to share:
"It has been a great loan deal for AC Milan. The fee is actually fairly expensive in a Seria A concept, but for the premier league not as much. I think it’s only going one way, I think he’ll be an AC Milan player next season,".
When asked about if there could be a rise in the fee due to certain stipulations or other add-ons in the deal:
“I'm not sure on this one, but I could try to speculate. As long as there’s 30 million guaranteed, that has to be hit. Chelsea have no choice to sell him if that 30 million is paid. The only way that deal could collapse is if Tomori rejected Milan, which is not going to happen because I know he’d be happy in Milan. He’s absolutely ready to jump on board in the San Siro full time. You’ve got there in the deal which could maybe be used as leverage,".
Lastly, the writer had this to say regarding the future if the purchase works out:
"I know Milan were initially looking at Christensen or Rudiger and ended up with Tomori. But it looks like they ended up getting the best one of the lot, or at least the one with the best resale value. If Milan do sign him and sell him in the future, they will make profit on Tomori,".
Milan fans will be happy to hear that the writer stated: "I think he will be an AC Milan player next season,".
