Brighton sign Billy Gilmour from Chelsea for £9m

Transfer deadline day signing klaxon announced as late as possible! Brighton have completed the capture of Scottish international midfielder Billy Gilmour from Chelsea for a fee of £9 million.

One of the best young prospects in Scottish football (don’t laugh), Gilmour has signed a four year contract at the Amex.

WAB can exclusively reveal that he is no relation to either Lorelai Gilmore and Rory Gilmore, residents of Stars Hollow in the fantastic television series Gilmore Girls (again, don’t laugh).

Whereas Lorelai are a mother-daughter pair who find themselves in comical situations as they try and navigate life, Billy burst onto the scene as 15-year-old at Rangers in the 2016-17 season.

Despite not yet being old enough to legally drive a tractor, Gilmour was promoted to train with the Gers first team. He was included in provisional squads for two Scottish Cup matches and soon began attracting interest from south of the border.

There was much hoo-ha when Chelsea paid £500,000 for Gilmour’s services in the summer of 2017, when he was still a month shy of turning 16.

Gilmour spent his first season at Stamford Bridge in Chelsea Under 18s, for whom he scored eight times in 25 appearances from the middle of the park.

2018-19 saw Gilmour step up to the Under 23s. The strong performances kept coming, nine goals in 31 appearances across Premier League 2, the UEFA Youth League and the Papa John’s Paint Pot.

A combination of Frank Lampard being appointed Chelsea boss and the Blues’ transfer ban saw Gilmour come into the first team picture ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.

Gilmour made his senior debut as a second half substitute against Sheffield United in August 2019 with his full Chelsea debut coming in the EFL Cup a month later.

It was in Chelsea’a 2-0 FA Cup fifth round win against Liverpool in March 2020 that Gilmour really came to prominence. Willian and Ross Barkley scored as the Reds were eliminated, but it was Gilmour who took the headlines.

The BBC reported: “The tiny figure of Billy Gilmour (he is only 5’5) looked like a boy among men at the heart of this FA Cup tie between two Premier League superpowers – but the 18-year-old Scot gave a performance that was huge in stature.”

“Gilmour, who has only played six games with three starts and a total of 281 minutes, may be short on experience but he looked big on talent as his controlled, creative display deservedly won him the man-of-the-match award.”

“He glided around midfield, happy to take the ball in deep positions but also willing to make an impact further forward in the face of experienced opposition such as Fabinho.”

Lampard was equally impressed with Gilmour: “What an incredible performance for a young player. He was a calm head in that first five or 10 minutes. He’s a throwback of a midfielder.”

“Can you put your foot in? Yes. Can you make angles to play the passes? Yes. He’s only slight in stature but he’s huge in personality. He deserves people to talk about him after a performance like that.”

A week later and Gilmour earned the man-of-the-match award as Chelsea hammered Everton 4-0. Unfortunately, he has rarely hit those heights since thanks to a combination of factors, most of which were not of his own making.

The first Covid-19 lockdown arrived just as Gilmour was establishing himself in the Chelsea midfield and earning rave reviews. Not long after the Premier League returned in June and he was ruled out with a knee injury.

By the time Gilmour returned in December, Chelsea were spending big again with their transfer ban over and Lampard was on his last legs.

In January, Lampard was sacked and in came Thomas Tuchel. Gilmour had lost a manager who was a massive fan of his talent, replaced by a new boss less impressed.

Under Tuchel, Gilmour made just three Premier League starts. One of those saw the Blues shock champions Manchester City by winning 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in a precursor to what would come in the Champions League final in Porto.

Gilmour was an unused substitute at the Estádio do Dragão when Chelsea beat City 1-0 to become European Champions for the second time.

He went to Euro 2020 (in 2021) with Scotland and ended up winning man-of-the-match as the Tartan Army picked up the greatest result in their history, drawing 0-0 with England at Wembley.

Whilst the Three Lions marched onto the final, Scotland were eliminated a few days later. Their cause was not helped by Gilmour missing the crunch fixture against Croatia at Hampden Park with Covid.

Needing first team football for his development which Chelsea could not give him, Gilmour departed for Norwich City on loan in the 2021-22 campaign.

This turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. Gilmour received so much criticism over the course of 24 appearances for Canaries fans that his family stopped going to watch him play at Carrow Road.

He became something of a scapegoat as Norwich finished rock bottom of the table with just 22 points to their name, having arrived in Norfolk amidst such fanfare.

Now it falls to Graham Potter and Brighton to try and revitalise Billy Gilmour. His career has stalled since lockdown, that knee injury and Tuchel never being a fan.

Gilmour was made to train with Chelsea Under 23s in pre-season before a midfield selection crisis caused by Conor Gallagher being suspended and a long-term injury to N’Golo Kante saw him brought back into the fold.

Tuchel’s low opinion of Gilmour was not shared by everyone at Stamford Bridge. Earlier on transfer deadline day, the Chelsea board were rumoured to be attempting to dissuade Tuchel from selling Gilmour. In June, they had taken up an option to automatically extend his contract until 2024.

The Blues boss made it clear that Gilmour is not in his plans, however. That has allowed the Seagulls to swoop for £9 million – a fee that will look an absolute bargain if Potter and Brighton can help Billy Gilmour get back on track.

Chances are Potter will. When you look at the Albion manager’s track record of improving young players – Ben White, Yves Bissouma, Robert Sanchez et all – then there is no better coach or club for Billy Gilmour to sign for at this stage of his career than Brighton.