Steven Gerrard was disappointed with Fikayo Tomori’s contribution in last night’s Champions League semi-final which took place under Newcastle United’s watchful eye.
It has been reported that Newcastle had scouts watching the all-Milan Champions League semi-final final at the San Siro last night, believed to be casting an eye over England defender Fikayo Tomori.
The 25-year-old had far from his best game for AC Milan, however, and was picked apart by Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport.
Newcastle were said to be watching Fikayo Tomori last night
Gerrard proclaimed his disappointment in the three-times capped England international when asking Ferdinand his opinion, saying: “We gave the big build-up to Tomori before the game. All eyes would have been on him tonight. I’m sure Gareth Southgate was watching him as well. What was your opinion on his performance? We were slightly disappointed. We wanted him to perform and step forward and take the opportunity but we thought he struggled at times.”
Ferdinand agreed with his former England teammate claiming that Tomori failed to step up for the big occasion saying: “I agree. I said before the game that in big showcase games you have to perform if you want to be propelled into being a top player and unfortunately, it wasn’t one of those for him today.
“One thing I would say is individual duels, I don’t think he won enough of them, I don’t think he really impacted the two centre forwards with any type of aggressiveness, or challenges to really put a marker down at any point.
“You’ve got to assert yourself in these games, you’ve got to put a marker down and not at any point did he do that.”
Tomori made the switch to AC Milan from Chelsea for £30million back in 2021 and has been a regular feature in the back-line for the Italians.
There’s talk of Tomori returning to England with Newcastle, Tottenham and Arsenal all being linked with the England man, and it’s unlikely that they’ll have been put off by one poor game.
There have been question marks over Tomori recently
That being said, The Daily Mail claimed that Gareth Southgate questioned Tomori’s ball-playing ability which is why his England appearances have been limited to just three caps. That could also be a problem for Newcastle, and indeed any Premier League side, given how much defenders are asked to be more comfortable on the ball in the modern Premier League game.
For me, if there’s one man who can iron out the kinks in Tomori’s game and get him playing to his full potential, it will be Eddie Howe.
Tomori still has the second leg of the Champions League semi-final to prove that he has what it takes to play on the big stage and prove Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand wrong, and to help his side reverse a two goal deficit.
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