Marina Granovksaia has been handed Chelsea’s next managerial stand-off ahead of the January transfer window as Daniel Farke continues to hoard Billy Gilmour at Norwich.
Gilmour’s omission from the Canaries’ starting elven has come as a shock to Chelsea fans in recent weeks with many now growing fear that it may have been the wrong move.
The 20-year-old loanee from Stamford Bridge has played more minutes for Scotland this season (431) than he has for Norwich in the Premier League (349) despite being widely regarded as one of the Blues’ biggest talents.
Gilmour joined the Blues four years ago from Rangers in a deal worth an initial £500,000 and is seen by Chelsea fans as the club’s heir to Jorginho and N’Golo Kante in midfield so, naturally, his mistreatment hasn’t been welcomed lightly.
However, despite this, Thomas Tuchel has highlighted a division in opinion having revealed how relatively carefree – ironically – he is about Gilmour’s opportunities under Farke.
Jai Mcintosh and Anita Abayomi were joined by football.london’s Chelsea writer Scott Trotter to delve deeper into Gilmour’s situation at Norwich and why his latest omission from the Canaries’ side could pose a silver lining for Tuchel, live on the Carefree Chelsea show via Facebook.
Trotter began the discussion by noting how Gilmour’s absence of game time hasn’t been a cause for concern for Tuchel.
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“He’s not getting much game time at Norwich and Tuchel came out and said that he’s had a little bit of a chat with Farke and Gilmour when Norwich came to Stamford Bridge,” he said.
“I don’t think anything is going to change immediately in the future. I think he’s quite relaxed about the push to recall Gilmour and I think he’s been very wise to do so.”
Trotter added by highlighting the silver lining that comes with Gilmour’s lack of game time, bolstering the Scotland international’s prospects upon his return.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Although Gilmour hasn’t played since September which isn’t ideal,” he continued. “He’s probably played a lot more for Norwich than he was going to for Chelsea and there’s still a lot of time in the season.
“I think everyone realises that Norwich are going to go down this season so I think not spending too much time in a team like that is a relief in some ways.
“Playing in a team that is struggling every week, it’s a lot, and perhaps you learn some bad tendencies in those kind of situations – perhaps the pick and choose of what games Gilmour can feature in is beneficial in the long run.”
Abayomi then added by agreeing with Trotter before going on to question Farke’s reasoning behind Gilmour’s omission.
“Gilmour’s situation at Norwich still confuses me,” she said. “How can you bench a player like that? How dare you. How do you eat your dinner knowing that he’s sitting on the bench?
(Image: Reddit)
(Image: Reddit)
(Image: Reddit)
“Scott’s right, at Chelsea, it would be the same thing so then I ask, what was the point in this loan? It’s just a bit wild to see him on the bench.
“It’s a situation the Chelsea board need to monitor and monitor correctly because I don’t want to see what’s happened to [Ethan] Ampadu.”
Mcintosh then concluded by noting which teams he would like to see Gilmour on loan at if Chelsea were to recall him in January.
“Brighton, Palace, Leeds,” he reeled off. “I think he needs to be in a possession heavy team.”
Do you think Gilmour should be recalled in January? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow our Carefree Chelsea team Jake, Anita, Jai and Scott on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.