Billy Gilmour says he still wanted to be at Chelsea after his Norwich City loan – but it quickly became apparent he wasn’t in the club’s first-team plans.
The midfielder swapped the Blues for Brighton in September in an effort to get more game time after falling out of favour with then-manager Thomas Tuchel.
The Scottish international had also endured a mixed season-long loan spell with the Canaries in the 2021/22 campaign and was unable to stop them from getting relegated to the Championship.
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The 21-year-old clearly has a lot of affection for the Stamford Bridge side after working his way up the academy ranks to the first team between 2017-2022 and while he wanted to make his mark in west London, the pre-season period showed he would be a fringe player at best.
So when Brighton came calling at the start of this season, the former Rangers youngster, who joined for £9million from Chelsea, felt it was an offer he could not refuse.
“After my [Norwich] loan, I still wanted to be at Chelsea, to be a part of their first-team plans but quite quickly in pre-season I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. But I didn’t want to go out on loan again, I wanted to find a home, to play for a team and be settled,” he said in the pre-match Southampton programme notes.
“I had other clubs interested but once I knew of Brighton’s interest, it was a pretty straightforward decision for me to make. I haven’t looked back since. Now I just want to play more games and keep progressing.”
A matter of days after he joined the Albion, head coach Graham Potter ended up going the other way. Reports incorrectly suggested Gilmour was gutted at this news and that the former Swansea City manager was the sole reason he came to the south coast outfit.
However, he said while Potter was part of the lure to come to the Seagulls, there were other factors – including technical director David Weir. Moreover, he has enjoyed working under new head coach Roberto De Zerbi at the Sussex side.
“I can see why Graham [Potter] wanted to go to Chelsea, it’s a great club with great players but I put it behind me quite quickly. It was obviously strange, with Graham leaving a week after I signed but that’s football and while he obviously had a say, first and foremost it was the club that signed me, so I was happy with that,” he added.
“It was just a bit of bad luck on my part but Roberto De Zerbi has come in and honestly he’s been brilliant. Training has been intense, sharp, he wants everything at 100 per cent and the boys love him.”
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