George Overhill

Sat 1 April 2023 10:10, UK

Former Rangers captain David Weir is being tipped to play a key role in the club’s hopes of signing Billy Gilmour by Mark Guidi and Barry Ferguson.

The 52-year-old former Ibrox and Scotland defender is technical director at the Amex, where the ex-Gers academy product is currently having an unhappy time, well out of favour under Roberto De Zerbi.

Speculation is increasing that the 21-year-old could be brought back to Glasgow despite the financials potentially making it a difficult deal to get done, but according to the Sunday Mail’s chief football writer Guidi a loan benefits all parties, and Ferguson agrees it has to be looked into.

Guidi told The Go Radio Football Show, as per the Daily Record: “If you are Billy Gilmour, you have barely kicked a ball in two years. The year at Norwich and the year so far, and he is too good a player for that.

“If you are Billy Gilmour you could say ‘it’s not worked out down south, and I want to go back to Rangers for a year’. He could get 50 first team games, go and win trophies and play in Europe. Play on the front foot, get an appetite back and move up beside your family. I think it’s a no-brainer.

“If you are Brighton £7million is not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. If Rangers go and say ‘can we have Billy Gilmour?’ and give him 50 first team games you either get a boy back who is confident or has enhanced his value.

“Financially, I don’t think Rangers could afford to buy him and pay his wages. That is off the table. But, Davie Weir is in there, in a very senior position. He could find a way to make this deal happen. If Billy Gilmour is wanting it and driving it from his end, and Michael Beale wants him, they should definitely explore it.”

Ferguson added: “You have to look at it. I forgot about my ex-teammate Davie – he is on of the main men at Brighton. I think you explore it, and if it’s too rich you come away from it. It would be crazy not to have a chat about it.”

Recharge

If Gilmour isn’t getting a game with the Seagulls then he is not providing any return on the money they spent on him anyway, apart from peace of mind for if there were a raft of injuries.

Rangers may not be able to offer to pay 100% of his wages even on a loan deal, but if Brighton have any plans to get the best out of him he is going to need to improve his confidence and his form somewhere.

Michael Beale can offer him that opportunity at Ibrox and do the job of increasing his market value for the English club.

Weir isn’t going to hand out players for fun just because he has a history with the Bears, but he as technical director he will surely see the benefits to both clubs and most crucially to the former Chelsea player himself.

An English Premier League side operates on a completely different financial plain than most clubs in world football, so a fee of less than £10million to bring him in from Stamford Bridge earlier this season is not something that carries the same level of significance as it would in Scotland or elsewhere.

So perhaps Brighton would be prepared to write off the deal and let Gilmour leave for a cut price, especially seeing as he only signed for Graham Potter who is now long gone back the other way to West London.

In other Rangers news, a Sky Sports host has laughed off accusations of Ibrox bias as he debunked Celtic complaints.