Chelsea boss Frank Lampard says he allowed David Luiz to move Arsenal because of his trust in Fikayo Tomori.

Lampard knew Tomori from their time together with Derby County in the English championship last season, with the young defender scooping the Club’s player of the year award.

Upon arriving at the Chelsea as replacement for departed Maurizio Sarri, Lampard decided to make Tomori one of his trusted armies ahead of veteran David Luiz who was allowed to join Arsenal for 8 million pounds last summer.

Speaking ahead of derby meeting with Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspurs, Lampard singled out Tomori for special praises and believed the young defender has great future at the club.

“For me Tomori is probably the proudest one because when he came to Derby last year it was quite a late move for us. When I came back to Chelsea you look at it and you’ve got four centre backs, so unless I trusted Fikayo there’s no way David Luiz could have moved to Arsenal.”

“He has repaid that trust in a huge way. So it’s all up to them on how they prove themselves so I can pick them because this is cut-throat, if they don’t perform, whether they’re young boys or not, great potential or not, then it’s not going to be enough for a team like Chelsea.”Lampard said.

Tomori who has been capped by England at the senior level put pen to paper for a new five year deal with Chelsea last week.