Billy Gilmour axed from Chelsea squad as Everton seek loan deal for Scotland midfielder
Everton target Billy Gilmour has been axed from the Chelsea squad with the London club currently on a pre-season tour of the USA.
Freelance journalist Fraser Fletcher, who’s worked for BBC Scotland, reported via his personal Twitter account on Monday (18 July) that Toffees boss Frank Lampard is “very keen” on signing the 21-year-old on loan.
It is understood that there are a number of other Premier League clubs also keen on loaning the Scotland midfielder with Chelsea in negotiations over a temporary switch.
Football.London journalist Adam Newson, however, adds that while Gilmour has been dropped from the senior Chelsea side, he could still stay in the USA to link up with the development squad instead.
On the fence
Lampard is bound to be able to strike a chord with Gilmour.
He knows the youngster from his time at Stamford Bridge and there’s been a lot of good stuff said about the Scotland midfielder in recent years.
However, it would be fair to say that he had a shocker while he was on loan at Norwich last season.
Gilmour played 24 times in the Premier League for the Canaries as they were relegated and he was regularly the focus of major criticism from fans at Carrow Road.
He found himself in and out of the team, struggled with occasional injuries and never really settled down.
Is this a case of the hype getting to Gilmour? Or was it just that Norwich were that bad that even Lionel Messi would have struggled to do anything of note with them?
We’re going for the latter.
Gilmour wouldn’t be a bad signing.
Everton are kind of stuck with signing players on the cheap or striking loan deals so if this is the best we can hope for then so be it.