AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini says the club still need to evaluate whether they want to sign Fikayo Tomori permanently but hailed the defender's impact at the San Siro.
Tomori joined Milan on loan from Chelsea in January and has so far made seven appearances for the Rossoneri in all competitions.
His latest outing came in Sunday's 2-1 victory at Roma, which helped his side get their league form back on track following the defeat to rivals Inter Milan.
The 23-year-old even displaced club captain Alessio Romagnoli for the fixture, and Milan's technical director Maldini is clearly an admirer of his talents.
"Fortunately, I work for a club that has an effect on players. When AC Milan call, the players always listen," Maldini told Sky Sport Italia .
"Fikayo is a player with particular characteristics, pace and intensity, so we thought he could be a good reinforcement for this second half of the season.
"Naturally, Romagnoli isn’t happy, no player is when he doesn’t play. However, Milan are 17 points better off than last season, we’re second despite having more commitments and many injuries, so squad rotation is necessary and Alessio has played pretty much every game."
Tomori looked as though he had risked sitting out much of the season when he rejected a deadline day loan move to West Ham back in October.
He had made just one appearance for Chelsea since then - in the FA Cup tie against Morecambe - before Milan swooped to secure his services.
Part of the agreement between both clubs included the insertion of a £21million release clause if Milan opt to sign Tomori permanently when his loan spells comes to an end in the summer.
But Maldini revealed the club are still weighing up their options before committing to anything further.
Were Chelsea right to let Tomori go on loan? Have your say below.
“We have an option to buy for Tomori, it’s up to us to evaluate whether we activate it or not," he added.
"As for the players whose contracts are running down, we include Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] as well, and we have weekly discussions about that too.
"All I can say is there isn’t much news to tell you."
