Barry Ferguson wants Rangers to re-sign Billy Gilmour as £8m transfer verdict shared
Barry Ferguson has urged Rangers to re-sign Billy Gilmour in a bid to reignite his once-promising career, with a potential loan move discussed.
Gilmour is a product of the Rangers academy, with the midfielder making a move to Chelsea in 2017, despite never making an appearance for the Scottish side.
While Ferguson remains hopeful of Gilmour making a return to Ibrox, he admitted that the youngster’s wages could be an issue in any potential transfer.
“I feel for the wee man,” Ferguson wrote for the Daily Record. “He made the move to the south coast on the understanding that Graham Potter was a big fan of him – only for Potter to then just a few weeks later head in the direction from which Gilmour had just come after being hired by Chelsea.
“Since then, Brighton have really kicked on under Roberto de Zerbi and there’s been no chance for Billy to break back in. At 21, however, he needs to be playing more than the 10 games he’s registered this season, totalling a measly 334 minutes of club football.
“I’d love to see him back at Rangers but unfortunately I just don’t see it. Brighton got him for a bargain when they paid just over £8million to lure him from Stamford Bridge but I think you’d still be surprised by the kind of wages he’d be on and sadly I think that may scupper any hopes for an Ibrox return, even on loan.”
Devastating downfall
Gilmour was once one of the most promising players at Chelsea, starring for the Blues in both the Premier League and the Champions League.
But despite the superb displays, the powers that be at Stamford Bridge did not view the youngster as part of their future plans, with a loan spell at Norwich quickly followed by a permanent exit to Brighton.
The Norwich move wasn’t as successful as all parties concerned would have hoped, and the same can be said for his time at current club Brighton, with Gilmour making just 10 appearances for the Seagulls so far.
As Ferguson noted, the 21-year-old’s downfall has been a real shame to witness, but hope remains that Gilmour can still go on to have a fantastic career for club and country.
But to be a regular for Scotland, the youngster must be playing regularly at club level, and that doesn’t look like happening any time soon given the presence of Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo at Brighton.
Whether or not a switch to Rangers would improve his chances of impressing Scotland manager Steve Clarke remains to be seen, but the midfielder could look to the path that fellow youngster Todd Cantwell has taken, in what has been a similarly stuttering career to Gilmour’s.
In other Rangers news, three players could be heading for an exit from Ibrox at the end of the season.