Milan defender Tomori ‘frustrated’ with England snubs

Milan defender Fikayo Tomori admits he felt ‘frustration’ at the lack of consideration from England manager Gareth Southgate, but hopes he can still earn a place at EURO 2024.

Despite playing regularly in Serie A and the Champions League, reaching the semi-finals last season, Tomori still has only four senior caps for England, never more than one in a single calendar year.

“Has there been an element of frustration? Yeah of course,” he told reporters on international duty with the England camp ahead of Friday’s match with Malta.

“Most players will say once you come here, you want to stay here and when you get taste for it, you want to you want to keep building on it.

“My England career’s been a bit stop start. When I was 21 and I first got called up I made a few appearances off the bench and then after the COVID year, I wasn’t playing as much so obviously, I wasn’t getting called up.

“Then I went to Milan and I’ve been in a few camps, out a few camps. But this season started off really well and I’ve have managed to play a few games and I’ve come to every camp. So yeah, it has started off well and now I just want to keep it going and play more games, get more caps.”

Despite barely playing for Manchester United at the start of this season, Harry Maguire was still chosen ahead of Tomori, who often would not even make it to the bench.

A product of the Chelsea youth academy, Tomori has been at Milan since January 2021, initially on loan and then on a permanent basis for €32m.

“I was in the England squad when I was at Chelsea so I knew that there would be eyes on me if I went abroad and it proved to be the case,” added the 25-year-old.

“I still managed to get some call-ups and since I’ve been in Milan.”

The centre-back has made 15 appearances this season between Serie A and the Champions League, even scoring a goal in the 3-1 victory away to Cagliari.