Reports that Chelsea is about to loan out Billy Gilmour to Norwich are a bad idea for the Blues and should be shelved immediately. Sources indicate that a Gilmour loan may be on the cards. It’s a bad idea and the Blues and their manager, Thomas Tuchel should scrap this idea forthwith. A previous article made it clear that this was a bad idea and it still is. Gilmour has shown his ability virtually every time he has been on the pitch for club or country that he is a top performer. This was most recently evident in a Man of the Match performance for Scotland, in the 2020 Euros.
Chelsea currently has four defensive midfielders available to them. That’s a perfect number to have. No more, no fewer. They have N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, and at the moment, Billy Gilmour. Kante though brilliant is 30 years old and will need his minutes to be managed. Also, an injury to him or any of the other two top defensive midfielders will leave Chelsea perilously thin at the position when it is needless to be so. Sending the young Scottish prodigy out on loan is a foolish idea that should immediately be reversed.
This seems another occasion where Chelsea can’t see what it is fans and observers can. Gilmour is already a top performer, as his man-of-the-match performances clearly depict. Is the Blues’ management oblivious to that fact? Forget about his age or stature, the young defensive midfielder is already a leader at his position commanding respect from his teammates. He is a field marshal on the pitch directing the action of his teammates even at such a young age.
As noted previously, an injury of any kind to either Kante (whose minutes need to managed) and/or Jorginho or Kovacic is a prescription for disaster for Chelsea. Tuchel’s system relies on a solid defensive midfield to be successful. Obviously, while having a scoring midfielder would be an asset, he has been able to overcome that deficiency with the superb defensive system delivering numerous clean sheets he has imposed. The signing of a top striker, e.g. Erling Haaland or Robert Lewandowski would certainly remedy that situation.
Disrupting the midfield defensive shield is a bad idea for Chelsea and for Tuchel. Gilmour should be retained at the club, as has been previously noted. Other observers may think otherwise, this space politely disagrees. Tuchel’s system is based on a defense-first strategy. The defensive midfield is the backbone of that formation. Having four top midfielders available for all competitions is absolutely essential, especially, as previously noted, when the very best, N’Golo Kante’s minutes absolutely have to be carefully managed since he is 30 years old and has been subject to injury of late.
At the least, Gilmour will be a top competitor for Chelsea in numerous cup games. Chelsea is overloaded with games this upcoming season, and having another top performer in the defensive midfield is a tremendous asset. In addition, in games when Chelsea has a good hold on a win, it will be easy to substitute the young Scot for any defensive midfielder with little or no drop-off in performance. With the current Chelsea team under Tuchel, it makes no sense to send Billy Gilmour out on loan. He is clearly too valuable to the club to do so.
Hopefully, Chelsea and Tuchel will come to their senses if they are actually contemplating such a move. It’s a bad one, counter-productive, and should be scrapped altogether. Chelsea should be aiming for a quadruple trophy-winning season in 2021/22. Billy Gilmour will be a key component of that side if they hope to achieve it.