Scotland star Billy Gilmour has opened up on his "frustrating" Brighton spell - but insists he doesn't regret leaving Chelsea for a move to the south coast.
The Rangers academy graduate has seen his career stall since exploding onto the scene at Stamford Bridge - where he lifted the Champions League - after struggling to make his mark at the Seagulls. He has struggled to hold down a regular starting spot under boss Roberto de Zerbi after being brought in by Graham Potter - who quickly made the move in the opposite direction to Chelsea.
The lack of minutes has seen the 21-year-old fall down the pecking order for Scotland as he failed to make it off the bench in the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Spain and Cyprus. However, Gilmour emerged from cold storage to make third English Premier League start of the season as Brighton demolished Wolves 6-0 side with de Zebri branding him "the best player on the pitch".
Gilmour confessed to The Athletic that it has been a tough time for him since leaving Chelsea: “I’ve had to be really, really patient. It’s been frustrating off the pitch, I can’t lie — you want to play. It’s been all about being patient, making sure I can control my emotions, not getting too high or too low.
"Especially after that (Wolves game), it’s the same thing: back into training, work hard and prove to the manager he can still trust me. He (De Zerbi) is always saying be patient, be ready. He was happy with me (against Wolves), so it’s a good feeling. I hadn’t played for a while, get chucked in, and I was ready, prepared. I knew what I had to do.”
The playmaker was put on the spot about Potter leaving for Chelsea almost immediately after he put pen to paper at the Amex - but insisted he had no regrets over the transfer. Gilmour said: “It was a difficult one. No luck you could say, but this manager (De Zerbi) has come in and the way he wants to play football, the way he sees football, I really enjoy it. When you are not playing many games, it’s hard to say that — but his training sessions, his style of play, the trust he puts in the boys to apply that in the game is unbelievable.
"Every day we are working on how we want to play. He’s focusing on the next game, never on two games or more, it’s always the next game. It’s printed into us how we work. We just need to keep following his ideas.”
READ NEXT
