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Louis SealeyPublished Nov 7, 2024, 10:34am|Updated Nov 7, 2024, 10:35am
Chelsea have been told their former midfielder Billy Gilmour is ‘good enough’ to play for Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal.
Gilmour spent almost a decade in the Rangers academy before joining Chelsea’s youth team in 2017 and making his first-team debut for the Blues two years later.
The Scotland international enjoyed an impressive start to his Chelsea career and earned praise from a number of pundits, including Manchester United legend Roy Keane.
But Gilmour failed to kick on at Stamford Bridge after falling out of favour under Thomas Tuchel and was sold to Brighton in 2022 for £10m.
The 23-year-old had a mixed spell on the south coast but has looked somewhere near back to his best this season for Serie A leaders Napoli.
Ex-Chelsea and Scotland star Pat Nevin believes Gilmour can do ‘huge things in football’ and says he would not look out of place at Man City or Arsenal.
‘I knew about Billy Gilmour before he joined Chelsea when he was at Rangers, but most people first remember his game against Liverpool where he dominated the match,’ Nevin told BetVictor.
‘I see a lot of him for Scotland and all the teams he’s played for and I believe that if you put him in the centre of midfield for Arsenal or Manchester City, he’d be just fine.
‘He’s a good enough player to play there and it’d make sense. He’s got the technical ability to do huge things in football. He holds the ball as well as any other player.’
Looking back at Gilmour’s Chelsea career, Nevin added: ‘Billy was coming through at Chelsea when Jorginho was in the centre of midfield.
‘Jorginho is a player who used to get a lot of stick from Chelsea fans and I used to tell people that he’d get into Manchester City’s midfield.
‘People would argue that he didn’t score goals or do other parts of the game, but he was adored by those who understood his style
‘It was no surprise to me when he went to Arsenal, and I’d feel exactly the same about Billy. If the next move he gets is way up the ladder, I won’t be surprised.
‘The only thing holding him back, and the only reason he’s not moving anywhere for £100million, is because he doesn’t create and score goals.
‘He is world-class at all other parts of the game, but that extra bit is what stops him getting that move.
‘We’ve seen lots of midfielders like that, Mateo Kovacic was another during his time at Chelsea, who are held back by their lack of goal contributions.
‘Some players are also looked upon differently because they’ve moved around a bit.
‘If he had stayed at one club which suited him well, then he’d have played week-in week-out for four or five years, and he’d be even better than he is.’
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