“Gilmour tipped for Man City”… so were Brighton right to sell to Napoli?
The summer 2024 transfer window slammed shut seven weeks ago now and still Brighton deciding selling Billy Gilmour to Napoli for only £12 million remains a somewhat baffling decision.
Yes, Gilmour wanted to join the Italian giants. And yes, there were doubts over whether he was a ‘Fabian Hurzeler player’.
Could He press aggressively enough for the Youngest Permanent Manager in Premier League history? Hurzeler used tall, strong midfielders at St Pauli. Wee Billy lacked the height the new head coach wants in the middle of the park. Neither was he the type of goal scoring midfielder Hurzeler packed his side with at Millerntor-Stadion.
But in his final Brighton appearance before joining Napoli, Gilmour was magnificent. He ran the show as the Albion beat Manchester United 2-1 at the Amex, looking perfectly at home in a Hurzeler team.
Many of those questions over whether Gilmour suited the new manager and this new way of playing were answered about as emphatically as is possible in a 90 minute window.
Many Brighton fans thought the seemingly inevitable departure of Gilmour would be reversed when Matt O’Riley ended up crocked during the League Cup win over Crawley Rugby Club.
O’Riley was signed for £25 million from Celtic, presumably as Gilmour’s replacement. It was known O’Riley needed ankle surgery before the Albion rubber stamped Gilmour’s move to Serie A.
By the time Gilmour was tucking into his first Neapolitan pizza, Ferdi Kadioglu had been injured in training and James Milner withdrawn in the first half of Arsenal 1-1 Brighton. Other summer recruit Mats Wieffer was also ruled out.
As Jack Hinshelwood continued to moonlight at left back, the Albion found themselves with young duo Carlos Baleba and Yasin Ayari as their only fit and available central midfielders.
Two disappointing home draws against Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest followed. And then came the harrowing 4-2 defeat at Chelsea.
Would having Gilmour for those three games have made a difference to Brighton? Probably not, in fairness.
The problem in the Ipswich stalemate was not taking chances. The six goals shipped against Forest and Chelsea came from questionable defending, individual mistakes and Hurzeler’s high line. Gilmour is not changing any of that.
Brighton currently sit sixth in the Premier League after seven games, having lost only once. Despite concerns over defence and the number of goals being shipped, Hurzeler has made an impressive start to life. The sale of Gilmour would appear not to have been to the Albion’s detriment. Yet.
As for Gilmour’s new club, well, Napoli are flying high at the top of Serie A. Antonio Conte has led them to five wins, one draw and one defeat so far.
Not that Gilmour has played much of a part so far. He is yet to start a league game, making four substitute appearances totalling 21 minutes.
It would be easy to put this down to his arrival in Naples coming in the final throes of the transfer window. Scott McTominay though joined at the same. Conte had no qualms in throwing McTominay straight in. He has three starts and one substitute outing so far, contributing one goal and one assist.
Gilmour’s lack of game time at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona has not stopped former Scotland winger Pat Nevin from tipping Wee Billy to join Manchester City in the not-too-distant future, however.
Speaking to BetVictor, Nevin said: “I was delighted to see Billy Gilmour move to Napoli. He started off at Chelsea where he wasn’t getting many minutes and then he wasn’t a guaranteed starter at Brighton.”
“He is a player of international calibre who can control games in a similar manner to the likes of Jorginho, who he played with at Chelsea. It’s madness that he wasn’t playing all the time.”
Gilmour actually started 32 games in all competitions last season under Roberto De Zerbi. He made a further nine appearances from the bench.
Nevin was therefore presumably referring to the doubts over how much playing time Gilmour would get with Hurzeler at the helm when saying he wasn’t a guaranteed starter. But anyway…
“Although he isn’t starting week-in week-out for Napoli, the style of football will suit him. The first XI there at the moment is amazing, he’ll grow as a player there,” Nevin continued.
“He was brilliant (for Scotland) against Croatia but that’s no surprise because he always has been. I’m of the opinion that you could put Gilmour in the Manchester City side and he’d look fine. He’s a very capable technical player.”
The good news should Nevin’s prediction come true and Gilmour make the move to City is that Brighton wisely included a sell-on clause in the deal with Napoli.
There are also an additional £4 million worth of performance-related bonuses, meaning the transfer could be worth £16 million to Brighton.
But even with those add-ons, it still seems a shockingly low amount for a regular starter in the 11th best team in England last season. Who, having only just turned 22, is only going to get better and better over the coming years.
Perhaps if Brighton had sold Gilmour for somewhere closer to the £25 million mark, the decision would have been more understandable to those Albion fans who remain perplexed by it.
The Albion rarely get player sales wrong. They either extract the maximum amount possible (Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella) or allow a loyal servant who has served the time with distinction to leave for the right price (Alexis Mac Allister, Pascal Gross).
Gilmour doesn’t really fit either of those categories. He played only one full season as a regular, had room for improvement and the fee appears almost rock bottom for a player of his calibre.
It will look even more astounding if Nevin is right and Gilmour is a future City player – providing they can lawyer their way out of those 115 charges.
