Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

Chelsea transfer news: Billy Gilmour wants crunch Thomas Tuchel meeting after questionable pre-season move

Billy Gilmour, Scotland training June 2022

Billy Gilmour will reportedly hold talks with Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel about his future after he dropped out of the senior group’s pre-season tour.

The Scotland midfielder has returned to London this summer following a spell on loan at Norwich. He proved a fairly regular feature for the Canaries, but their relegation did not help his career development.

Gilmour nevertheless travelled with the rest of his Chelsea team-mates on their pre-season tour of the USA.

But he did not make the Chelsea squad for Sunday’s 2-1 win over Club America in Las Vegas.

And The Telegraph now reports that he has dropped off the tour altogether. Gilmour will instead travel to Salt Lake City with the Under-23s and not Charlotte and Orlando with Chelsea’s other stars.

Gilmour is not the only Blues player to have split off from the senior group.

Striker Armando Broja, for whom West Ham have bid £30million, Coventry transfer target Tino Anjorin and Harvey Vale have all left too.

And the report adds that it is now ‘highly likely’ that Gilmour could leave on loan before the transfer window shuts.

However, the 21-year-old has yet to speak to Tuchel about his plans and thus wants to see what his manager has to say.

The Telegraph notes, though, that Ross Barkley, Kenedy and Michy Batshuayi – who appear to have no Chelsea future at all – have stayed with the senior tour.

The newspaper adds that the move could ‘raise questions’ about Tuchel’s thinking – questions the German will no doubt look to answer.

Gilmour looking for better season

Gilmour said of the prospect of staying at Stamford Bridge this season: “There’s top midfielders here. Chelsea are a top club with top players.

“You see them all, so it’s good competition and something I look forward to.”

But he added that “it was a difficult season” at Norwich last term, especially when his family stopped coming to watch him.

“Of course it’s not nice,” the 15-cap Scotland international said. “They stopped coming to the games, so it wasn’t nice. They weren’t coming down for games at the weekend, just staying in the house.”

Chelsea man needs lift

Gilmour’s Chelsea career started off in magnificent fashion, but he now needs a lift next season to return to those heights.

His initial Stamford Bridge rise came under Frank Lampard in the 2019/20 season. Injury has hampered his progress since then, though.

And Gilmour’s Norwich spell did not do him any long-term favours, although he will have learnt a lot from the experience.

The midfielder now needs a solid season of football, whether that be at Chelsea or on loan.

He definitely looks like he has a future at Stamford Bridge, but his first task is to get back into top form.