[Albion] Napoli interested in Billy Gilmour **Sold 30/08/24**

[maresfield seagull]

£11.8m fee.

 

[Littlemo]

It just seems mental that we’d be trying to force him out. Why? I get he might not be in FH ideal squad plans but he’s hardly a terrible player and with injuries we still need him, that and we truly don’t know how the incoming players will play.

There’s nothing that indicates he’s troublesome behind the scenes, the opposite is true if anything. Anytime I have heard Tony, Barbar and RDZ last year, speak about him, it was always with a tone of affection and saying how good he is off the pitch.

The whole thing is mad.

 

[GT49er]

I do not like what Bozza is saying and I know he’s not much of a WBG fan but I doubt he’s claiming to be ITK and categorically stating that the club don’t want to keep him because of his opinion about WBG.

I now expect him to be gone by midnight tonight

Who? Bozza? Gawd, that could cause a few probs.

 

[Hugo Rune]

It just seems mental that we’d be trying to force him out. Why?

We’re not. It takes two to tango.

FH would have met with every player once he was appointed. He would have told WBG that he wouldn’t be our first choice midfielder because he wants a slightly different profile (Wieffer).

WBG’s agent has probably been on the phone to Napoli everyday since.

 

[chip]

Coming from the most amazing man who ever lived

We’re not. It takes two to tango.

FH would have met with every player once he was appointed. He would have told WBG that he wouldn’t be our first choice midfielder because he wants a slightly different profile (Wieffer).

WBG’s agent has probably been on the phone to Napoli everyday since.

this must be true

 

[Barnet Seagull]

Any chance its a low fee due to sell-on and there's other finance involved? Would be nice to stiff Chelsea. Perhaps part of a swap?

 

[albionalex]

It just seems mental that we’d be trying to force him out. Why? I get he might not be in FH ideal squad plans but he’s hardly a terrible player and with injuries we still need him, that and we truly don’t know how the incoming players will play.

There’s nothing that indicates he’s troublesome behind the scenes, the opposite is true if anything. Anytime I have heard Tony, Barbar and RDZ last year, speak about him, it was always with a tone of affection and saying how good he is off the pitch.

The whole thing is mad.

We're clearly not forcing him out; he started last weekend!

We haven't made him part of a 'bomb squad' like Chelsea have with their unwanted players.

 

[Han Solo]

That's not quite the case.

I think it's probably fair to say I don't rate him as highly as you, certainly, but that's not to say I don't rate him at all.

He did a great job last season stepping into the massive void left by Caiecedo and Mac Allister - probably the finest midfield duo the club has ever had.

However, if we do entertain genuine ambitions to reach Europe again, I do feel we need more in our central midfield than Billy Gilmour currently offers. I wouldn't look to offload him though - I think he'd be a fine squad player. Of course, I expect Gilmour wants more than that.

Whilst not believing that BG is a £50m+ player, I would have put his value somewhat higher than we seem to be selling at.

And I am genuinely surprised that no Premier League clubs have been mentioned as having an interest in him.

As others have said - there's a whole lot of weirdness around this likely-looking transfer.

Now getting DMs saying your "I know the club wants to sell Gilmour" isn't what they've heard...

I think you are correct about Billy prefering to be a starter for Napoli rather than maybe not starting for Brighton. Any footballer would make that choice.

But I've seen absolutely nothing that suggests that Billy couldn't be a starter in this team. The role he had against United and Wieffer had against Everton are key to the entire tactics, and Billy was on a whole different level against United than Wieffer was against Everton. Billy also has a lot of Premier League experience which we're certainly not flooded with in midfield. Its a safe card; others aren't.

Baffled if this is something the club wanted, rather than tolerated.

 

[Littlemo]

We're clearly not forcing him out; he started last weekend!

We haven't made him part of a 'bomb squad' like Chelsea have with their unwanted players.

Tbh that’s what I thought as well, especially given playing on Sat but some of the comments on this thread suggest otherwise.

 

[pigmanovich]

Any chance its a low fee due to sell-on and there's other finance involved? Would be nice to stiff Chelsea. Perhaps part of a swap?

Chelsea would receive a share of any proceeds from a sell on clause agreed with Napoli FWIW.

 

[sparkie]

Please can we stop this "forcing Billy out" nonsense that is creeping in again.

That was mentioned by a misinformed fan at the fans forum and Barber absolutely corrected it.

These grim narratives take hold and all of a sudden the truth is lost.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

A real shame.
It would be nice to retain top Scottish representation at the Albion. Especially someone so talented as BG.

Of all the reasons to keep WBG, retaining top Scottish representation wasn't on my list.

 

[GT49er]

A real shame.
It would be nice to retain top Scottish representation at the Albion. Especially someone so talented as BG.

I think you may have nailed it. Scottish! We can cope with Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, whatever - but not Scotch! Besides, Scottish = monkey tennis, so sell off cheap.
Birmingham City have been splashing the cash - twice smashing the League 1 transfer record by paying over £2M for a player, plus a couple more for over £1M (including our former youngster Alex Cochrane). They even had a <£10m bid for a Fulham youngster they had on loan last season turned down today. Meanwhile, their fans are wondering how they mugged Brighton off for Marc Leonard for only £500K. They've even got a thread about it!
Marc Leonard is also Scottish..................
It's probably a good job that Jensen Weir converted to English at U17 level, otherwise we'd probably be paying Wigan a small fortune to take him off our hands!

 

[doogie004]

Please can we stop this "forcing Billy out" nonsense that is creeping in again.

That was mentioned by a misinformed fan at the fans forum and Barber absolutely corrected it.

These grim narratives take hold and all of a sudden the truth is lost.

Well barber was never going to say yes we are forcing him out was he?

 

[Hugo Rune]

Well Barber was never going to say ‘yes we are forcing him out’ was he?

Barber was right. He doesn’t start against Man Utd if we are forcing him out. He didn’t want to be second choice at Chelsea and he’s not going to be second choice here. He wants out. It’s really not a complex equation.

 

[sparkie]

Well barber was never going to say yes we are forcing him out was he?

So he lied - and we are ?

Seems unlikely. He'd have been non-committal if he wanted to hide anything.

 

[StonehamPark]

Of all the reasons to keep WBG, retaining top Scottish representation wasn't on my list.

I think you may have nailed it. Scottish!

More so from a a somewhat silly and selfish (proud Scot) perspective.

 

[pb21]

Seems possible the club would be happy / want him to stay as a squad player but he wants to play every week.

You can see how some could consider that as being 'forced out', but it's not really though.

 

[Weststander]

Seems possible the club would be happy / want him to stay as a squad player but he wants to play every week.

You can see how some could consider that as being 'forced out', but it's not really though.

The “some” would then by implication consider PB to be a blatant liar.

 

[dazzer6666]

It just seems mental that we’d be trying to force him out. Why? I get he might not be in FH ideal squad plans but he’s hardly a terrible player and with injuries we still need him, that and we truly don’t know how the incoming players will play.

There’s nothing that indicates he’s troublesome behind the scenes, the opposite is true if anything. Anytime I have heard Tony, Barbar and RDZ last year, speak about him, it was always with a tone of affection and saying how good he is off the pitch.

The whole thing is mad.

Zero chance he plays against Man U if he is being ‘forced out‘. None.