BILLY GILMOUR has received a message from his former Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel.
Following Billy Gilmour’s departure, Thomas Tuchel stated, “we expected more” from Billy Gilmour
Gilmour left Chelsea on deadline day to join Brighton in a £9million permanent deal.
The Scotland international first made an impression at Stamford Bridge during Frank Lampard‘s first season in charge. In March 2020, he delivered back-to-back man of the match performances in the FA Cup and Premier League, earning rave reviews at the age of 18.
However, a knee injury set him back, and a loan spell at Norwich last season did not go as planned. As the Canaries were relegated to the Championship, he only made 24 league appearances.
Tuchel insists it was Gilmour’s request to leave permanently because he didn’t want another loan. However, the German admitted that he and the club expected more from the former Rangers prospect.
“We had high hopes and he played for us in the first half-a-year when I was at Chelsea, played some important matches for us and looked for a new challenge that did not go so well for him with Norwich,” Tuchel said.
“We expected more, he expected more so it was like, without pointing a finger, but it is difficult also for him and for us to not succeed, to not play at Norwich, to be relegated and then suddenly be a central midfielder for Chelsea and competing for top four and for every title. There’s a huge step in between so we were looking.
“The ideal solution would have been maybe that he goes again on loan as the concurrence is huge for us in central midfield and we felt like he is not the age where he can live again with five or seven or eight matches during a whole season to fulfil his own potential so ideally it would have been another loan. Billy did not want to go on loan, it was a no-go for him so in the end we agreed to a sale.”
Graham Potter, the manager of Brighton, is happy to have completed a deal to acquire Gilmour. Potter is optimistic the 21-year-old will thrive on the south coast.
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