Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

Billy Gilmour backed to take shock career path and join Chelsea rivals after shining at Brighton

Billy Gilmour preparing for a Scotland match

A pundit has tipped Billy Gilmour to impress at Brighton, before potentially securing a big-money move to one of Chelsea’s top-four rivals in the future.

Chelsea signed Gilmour from Rangers in summer 2017. At the time, the central midfielder was viewed as one of the best talents in Scotland.

Gilmour went on to feature in 22 matches for the Blues, although he didn’t manage to register a goal or an assist. He also had a loan spell at Norwich City while on the Blues’ books.

Chelsea wanted to make some changes to their midfield options late in the summer transfer window. This saw them bring in Denis Zakaria on loan from Juventus.

Chelsea have the option to sign Zakaria permanently at the end of the season, should he impress.

On deadline day, Thomas Tuchel’s side allowed Gilmour to end his underwhelming five-year stay in west London.

He joined Graham Potter’s Brighton on a four-year contract. The deal is reportedly worth £10m including add-ons.

The Scot will aim to get his career back on track while playing on the south coast. His development has somewhat slowed down while at Chelsea, mainly due to their fierce competition for places.

Gilmour’s talent remains though and Brighton are highly likely to get the best out of him. Just look at how Potter has improved players such as Leandro Trossard, Moises Caicedo and Tariq Lamptey.

Gilmour, who has won 15 caps for Scotland so far, made his Seagulls debut in the recent 5-2 thrashing of Leicester City.

He only came on as a substitute though and will be hoping to make more of an impact in Brighton’s next match. They face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Exciting verdict on Billy Gilmour future

Pundit Pat Nevin has now made a big prediction about Gilmour’s future. He reckons the 21-year-old is good enough to play for Liverpool or Manchester City in the future, despite Chelsea letting him go.

Nevin said (via talkSPORT): “Billy Gilmour is at a crucial point in his career and the move to Brighton is a brilliant one. It’s the right move.

“Chelsea won’t regret selling him because that’s not the way they think as a club. But they may want to buy him back again.

“Four or five years down the line, I won’t be surprised if he’s playing in the Manchester City, Liverpool or Chelsea midfield. He’s that technically good.”

Gilmour signing for Liverpool or City in the future would see him follow in the footsteps of several Premier League stars.

Mo Salah was let go by Chelsea in July 2016 but went on to shine for Roma before returning to England with Liverpool a year later.

Kevin de Bruyne only made nine appearances for Chelsea before they sold him to Wolfsburg in January 2014. He put up some great numbers in Germany though and this saw City spend £55m on him.

There is also Romelu Lukaku, who has now had two spells at Chelsea and one at Manchester United. Having said that, his most successful period came with Inter Milan and he is now back with the Italian giants on loan.

Gilmour clearly has a lot to work to do if he is going to become as influential as Salah or De Bruyne in England. But the midfielder has a lot of the necessary attributes to become a top player. And Brighton are the perfect club to help him reach that level, making it a great transfer for him.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s Euro Paper Talk claims Manchester United and Chelsea could push again to capture Frenkie de Jong next year.