Leeds United “most likely destination“ for Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori

Leeds United are currently the frontrunners in the chase to sign Fikayo Tomori on loan from Chelsea.

The Metro (via BBC) have reported that Elland Road is Tomori’s “most likely destination“ with the 23-year-old playing just 44 minutes of Premier League football so far this season.

Tomori is in need of minutes and Leeds are in need of defensive support, with Robin Koch; Diego Llorente; Liam Cooper and Gaetano Berardi all injured and in need of significant recovery time. A loan deal between the two parties would be ideal.

The two have history, with Tomori an indispensable part of Frank Lampard’s Derby County side in 2017/18. Leeds and Derby built-up a rivalry which came to a head at Elland Road in the play-off semi-final second leg as Tomori’s side were sent to Wembley where they were ultimately beaten by Aston Villa.

Tomori went back to Chelsea along with Frank Lampard, making 15 Premier League appearances while scoring one goal. However, Tomori has struggled for minutes since then with the arrival of Thiago Silva in the summer, while Malang Sarr will also add depth to Chelsea’s centre-back options in the summer.

This opens-up the possibility of a loan deal, and Leeds have been named as the most likely destination despite Marcelo Bielsa publicly ruling-out any centre-back signings in the January transfer window.

However, in mid-December Alex Crook reported that Rennes are the most-likely destination, but acknowledged that Leeds have expressed an interest in the young defender.

It’s difficult to tell whether Leeds’ interest will be acted-on by Victor Orta and his team, with Marcelo Bielsa preferring a smaller squad while already saying that he did not want to sign any more centre-backs. At the same time, The Whites really could be in need of Tomori’s expertise, and a loan deal could be the perfect solution for the injury problems that are being faced at the moment. Only time will tell.