Young Nigerian Fikayo Tomori’s Rise at Chelsea a Credit to Foresight at the Blues Academy News

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Young Nigerian Fikayo Tomori’s Rise at Chelsea a Credit to Foresight at the Blues Academy

By Daily Sports on August 15, 2019

I wrote on my Tuesday International Football Analysis column to lament the departure of gifted Nigerian midfielder Alex Iwobi from Arsenal and I described his being let go by the North London giants as a blow to not only the player himself but also for Nigerians who follow the progress of our players abroad and who want to watch them playing for big teams with a big fan base worldwide.

However, while Iwobi has left one big club for a lesser team (with all due respect to Everton who have paid a handsome of money to make Iwobi the costliest Nigerian player in history) another Nigerian Fikayo Tomori, a center back, has made his way into the first team picture at another big club Chelsea.

It was with some pride I watched the defender being introduced for Chelsea in the second half of their pulsating Super Cup clash on Wednesday evening against Liverpool which The Blues lost on penalty shootout.

Tomori put in an assured display in the about 1 hour of action against The Reds fearsome attack comprising Roberto Firminho, Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane.

I had described Iwobi as the last Nigerian to feature for a real top club, and even though Tomori is Nigerian by birth, it's difficult to fully claim him because he has already played matches for Canada’s junior national teams (having been born in that country) and also for England youth teams having grown there since he was a toddler.

But Tomori is Nigerian nonetheless, that’s the land of his ancestors. Maybe one day he would decide to play for the Super Eagles instead of making an appearance for England or Canada at the senior level.

I’m however impressed by the fact that the 21-year-old has been a Chelsea player since he was 8 years old. It’s remarkable how a professional club can have the foresight of spotting a young grassroots talent and groom him for years through their academy system to become a fuller and more successful professional player.

The contrast between this and what obtains in Nigeria cannot be clearer. Almost all professional teams have no genuine record of having a system in place to groom young players. They do not have standard academies for the development of kids.

There’s a recent attempt to see that change as a number of professional clubs presented some youth players for a national competition some months ago. But I ask, how many of those players were truly groomed at those clubs and are the clubs still keeping these kids intact today, with a view to further develop them to serve as a feeder team to their senior sides?

Chelsea decided to let their long serving-defender Luiz leave to Arsenal because they believe Tomori can fill the void as one of Chelsea’s main centre backs this season.

It is being argued though that Tomori’s promotion to the first team of would not have happened if the club were not under a transfer ban from FIFA. According to a Goal.com report, “Ideally, the perfect scenario for the club would’ve been to sharpen his development with a spell outside the club due to his relative inexperience at this level. Nonetheless, circumstances have thrown the 21-year-old into the deep end and it remains to be seen how he’ll adjust.”

It’s a massive trust on the player and a big trust in the club’s ability to make stars and not just buy them.

Nigerian professional sides will do well to set up and maintain a real genuine system that would include going to the grassroots to source for very young kids, groom them and hopefully turn them into professionals.

When they do that, they will earn more my respect.

Tomori