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Fikayo Tomori said there was “more to football than the Premier League” after completing his loan move from Chelsea to AC Milan.
Tomori moved to the Rossoneri on a season-long loan and made his debut as a substitute during Milan’s defeat to Internazionale in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals.
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The 23-year-old follows in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho as one of a number of young English players to move abroad and said these types of experiences will be good for the national side.
“A lot more people are realising that there’s more to football than the Premier League and England,” Tomori told reporters. “I speak to a lot of English players and they always say: ‘How come players from Brazil or Argentina move at 16, 17 yet English players don’t seem to go out of England a lot.’
“I think it’s definitely a positive that many young English players want to leave England and are willing to try something new, to learn new languages and a different style of play. That’s only going to benefit them and the national team as well.
“Going abroad gives you a different view on football as whole rather than just Premier League and England and being in the comfort zone. Being out of your comfort zone can definitely develop a person and a player as well.”
At Chelsea, Tomori was playing alongside former Milan captain Thiago Silva and said he leaned on the former Brazil international as well as other Stamford Bridge teammates for advice before making the move.
“When I knew coming to Milan was a possibility, I spoke to a lot of players that had played in Italy: Jorginho, Emerson, Toni Rudiger and Mateo Kovacic, who played for Inter, so I asked him how Milan was,” Tomori said.
“I spoke to Thiago very briefly because his English isn’t that great, but no one had a bad word to say about Milan or Serie A”