Norwich is wasting Billy Gilmour’s development for Chelsea

Chelsea knows that hindsight is 20/20 when it comes to loans and other player decisions. Sometimes the perfect or near perfect decision goes wrong and it becomes all too easy to say how “obvious” it was at the time to go the other way. The examples of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah are two of the biggest in recent memory, though sometimes these things happen on a smaller scale.

Norwich ticked a lot of boxes for Billy Gilmour, but the club has retreated into itself and Chelsea will be left holding the bag for them. His development is being hurt by a club retreating in on itself and already doomed to relegation regardless.

Daniel Farke had worked with Dortmund’s youth teams while Thomas Tuchel was manager there. Farke helped to develop Pulisic, fresh from moving to Germany, into a player that was almost immediately ready for Tuchel’s team. The two have similar ideas about the game so when Gilmour needed a loan and Norwich was losing Oliver Skipp back to Tottenham, things seemingly lined up perfectly.

Gilmour did play for Norwich initially and he didn’t do too badly for himself. It was quickly clear that Norwich, like the last time they were in the Premier League, was a club with big ideas despite being the smallest fish in the sea. But, perhaps because Farke had overseen the relegation last time, things quickly changed. As hopes turned into reality, Farke did what many managers do when facing relegation. He retreated into what, or rather, who, he knew.

Norwich changed formations and started relying on older players that had been at the club. Gilmour was a victim of this though initially it seemed like only a matter of time before he returned. This notion was helped when international breaks came along and Gilmour would be one of Scotland’s best players game after game. But Farke and Norwich stayed in their shell.

When Norwich suffered their biggest loss of the season to Chelsea, there was at least a glimmer of hope that Gilmour would find his way back into the team. Clearly, relying on the players that got Norwich back into the Premier League wasn’t working. Gilmour was hardly at fault for early losses so why not bring him back now and see if he can turn the tides?

But, Gilmour again remains on the bench for the match against a Leeds team facing heavy second season syndrome. And, if it wasn’t already clear before, Gilmour should be recalled and loaned elsewhere. He is too talented of a player to let rot on the Norwich bench as they go on some crusade against relegation that is doomed to fail. Gilmour could have been playing for a number of Premier League clubs safer from relegation and willing to develop his talents.

Whether or not Gilmour can get a second half of the season with a Premier League club is another question. Performances for Chelsea (and Norwich whether they admit it or not) as well as Scotland points to a player more than ready for Premier League football. But at this point, it just matters that he gets playing time. If a Championship club fighting for promotion is willing to take him for six months plus a year should they be promoted, that seems ideal for all parties.

But right now the immediate thought needs to be getting him out of a Norwich team that has already sealed its fate. Gilmour would have been better served getting scraps of minutes at Chelsea than being in his current situation. He’s too good to waste and while the loan made sense at the time, now it only makes sense to end it.