July 02, (THEWILL) – A move from London-based English Premier League side Chelsea to returning EPL side Norwich FC in Norwich, has been confirmed for brilliant youngster Billy Gilmour in a season-long loan to afford the player regular playing time and opportunity to develop at pace.
The loan move was confirmed by Norwich on Friday morning just as Gilmour expressed his pleasure that the move sailed through without hitches or bottlenecks for any of the three parties: both clubs and the personal agreements with the player himself.
THEWILL recalls that Gilmour was in the selected squad for Scotland at the ongoing Euro 2020 until he tested positive for COVID-19 after the goalless draw with England, which led to the enforced self-isolation of English duo, Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount, both of whom had spent about 20 minutes chatting with teammate Gilmour after the game.
Unfortunately, Scotland finished rock bottom in Group D and failed to progress to the knockout stages. However, it allowed Norwich to progress speedily with the transfer after Scotland exited the competition. They won the race to get Gilmour and that was a very pleasing outcome for Daniel Farke, coach of Norwich.
Gilmour himself was just as pleased. He expressed it by saying: “I’m very excited to be here. I can’t wait for the season ahead. I’ve been looking forward to coming here, playing as much as possible and helping Norwich City compete in the Premier League.
“I spoke to the Head Coach [Daniel Farke] here. He called me and we had a nice talk about how he wants to play and how he sees me fitting in.
“Everything he said was what I want to do on the pitch, get the ball down and play nice football. He spoke really highly of his team and I wanted to come join here and help. There are very exciting times ahead, coming in for pre-season and seeing all the lads. Let’s get to it.”
For coach Farke, Gilmour was a brilliant addition to the squad. The manager said he was looking forward to the massive impact on the rest of his teammates that the 20-year-old would have with his joining. He said: “We are really happy to have brought Billy in. We must say a big thank you to Chelsea and all those involved for making this deal happen. I think it helped that in the past we have shown that young players with potential are in good hands here at Norwich City.”
“We are delighted to bring Billy in because we’ve lost some players in that area. We’re looking to improve our options, particularly in the centre of the park, and for that we’re happy to bring Billy in. We got the feeling that he can help us a lot with his ability to link the play, his technical qualities and also his work against the ball.
“From the football point of view, but also from his character he is the perfect fit to our squad.“He will help us to achieve our targets. We still have to keep in mind that he is an unbelievably young guy and that he hasn’t played regularly on this level.
“We have to give him some time and space to improve and find his rhythm. All in all, we got the feeling that he can help us achieve our targets and he’s a perfect fit for us.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
