Fikayo Tomori has not given up on his dream of representing England at the 2026 World Cup.
The AC Milan central defender made his debut for the Three Lions in 2019 and won five caps under Gareth Southgate.
But the former Chelsea defender, who also played at U19 level in his native Canada, has not been called up for England for over two years.
Tomori has appeared in 13 of 15 Serie A games for Milan this season. Only Alexis Saelemaekers (23) won more tackles than the 28-year-old (18). He also won the sixth most duels for his team in the league (39).
Although Tomori faces stiff competition in the race for a place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad, his hopes have been boosted by the recent nomination of his Milan team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
“I spoke to him after the last international break in November. We spoke a few times and the message is: carry on as before,” Tomori told BBC Sport.
“The World Cup is in six months and there will still be a lot of football played until then.
“I know he’s watching and keeping an eye on it because he nominated Ruben. That gives me the confidence that I can do it.
“He was in Milan last season and I know he also gets our data and watches our clips regularly.
“The way he talked about it, it’s difficult because there are so many players in that position – and I understand that when you have players like John Stones, Marc Guehi, Dan Burn and Ezri Konsa.
“But the World Cup remains a dream and I’m working towards it.”
The March international break will be the final opportunity for Tuchel to select his squad before making his final decision for the 2026 World Cup at the end of the season.
England will face Ghana, Croatia and Panama in the group stage of next summer’s tournament.
This is an automatic translation and may contain minor inaccuracies.
