Official: Fikayo Tomori joins Frank Lampard’s Derby County on loan for the season

Young Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori is heading back to the Championship for a third successive year, joining Derby County on loan for the season. The 20-year-old spent last season at Hull City while the year before he spent six months at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Now he joins Frank Lampard’s mini-Chelsea in Derby, linking up with fellow loanee Mason Mount as well as assistant coach Jody Morris.

Derby won their first match of the new season 2-1, away at Reading, but one of their most glaring deficiencies was in defence where veteran Richard Keogh had an especially terrible time, giving the ball away in dangerous situations all night long. That alone should give Tomori a decent chance of claiming a spot.

“We’re really pleased to bring Fikayo in to provide us with another defensive option in central defence because, over the course of the season, we will need to be adaptable and have competition all over the pitch.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Derby County FC

Born in Canada to Nigerian parents, Tomori moved to England at a very young age. He’s been in the Chelsea system since the U8 level, moving up through the ranks (at both club and international level) and winning all the usual FA Youth Cups, UEFA Youth Leagues, and so on (such as the U20 World Cup!). He made his Chelsea senior debut on the final day of the 2015-16 season, before embarking on his current series of loans.

Good luck, Big Fik!