CHELSEA STAR LEARNED A LOT VERY QUICKLY WITH HULL, BUT THE BEST IS YET TO COME

FIKAYO TOMORI has come a long way in a short time since his Hull days, but claims he still has further to go.

Tomori wore the L-plates when he arrived at Hull on loan from Chelsea on transfer deadline day in August 2017.

Nigel Adkins played the young centre-half at right-back to give him some protection from the physical nature of the Championship and he made 26 appearances for the Tigers that season.

Fast forward 18 months and Tomori returned to the KCOM Stadium as an established Chelsea first-teamer and an England international.

As rapid as Tomori’s ascent has been, he is grounded enough to realise he still has much more to do. “Everything has happened really fast this last year,” he said. “I haven’t really had time to take it in.

“In the little time I’ve had to think about it, I’m proud of what I’ve done, but it’s only the beginning. I want to achieve more, I want to win trophies and play more games for England. It’s a nice start for me and hopefully I can kick on.”

Tomori, 22, says he learnt much with Hull and never imagined he would progress as quickly as he has done. “When I was at Hull, I was playing fullback and didn’t foresee what would happen because I wasn’t looking that far ahead,” he added.

“I was just thinking about Hull and trying to do as well as I could. My season was a bit up and down, but we managed to stay up. I carried on and managed to play a full season at Derby and now I’m here. It’s been great.”

Tomori is improving with every game and he headed home the decisive goal after Michy Batshuayi opened the scoring (below) before Kamil Grosicki pulled one back for Hull with a deflected free-kick.

He also helped to blunt Hull’s attack and won the man-of-thematch award as Chelsea progressed to the fifth round.

Frank Lampard had Tomori on loan while in charge at Derby last season and says he has grown not just as player, but as a person.

“He’s come a long way since the first day he turned up at Derby,” said the Chelsea manager.

“There were things he needed to improve, even personality wise. He was quite quiet and you see a change in his personality, you see the player he has turned into.

“He’s played for his country, he’s got into the international squad, he’s playing regularly for us and doing very well, so I’m delighted with his progress.”

Tomori is becoming more vocal and he says that comes with increased confidence.

“Winning games and playing games builds confidence,” he said. “I feel a lot more confident than I was at the beginning of the season, so I feel like I have a bigger role to play in the team.

“We young players are encouraged to talk in the changing room and use our voices. This season, as it has gone on, I’ve tried to do that a lot more.

“In the position I play, the manager encourages me to do that and the more senior players in the team have encouraged me to do it too.

“We have a lot of personality, even though we’re young and we just want to show everyone what we can do.”

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