Billy Gilmour to Rangers? Barry Ferguson has been making the case for and against the former Ibrox kid returning to Govan, given how much he’d love to see it.
And many of us would. This lad has the talent to go all the way in the game, but he’s been hit by bad fortune ever since Frank Lampard dropped him at Chelsea, inexplicably we may add given the calibre of talent he was outshining, before his replacement Thomas Tuchel showed zero interest in Gilmour and farmed him out to Norwich.
Now at Brighton it’s all gone south again given his new manager isn’t interested in him and the one who signed him left a minute later.
Back to Ibrox?
The problem is the cost. Let’s not kid ourselves on, this kid is Barry Ferguson mark 2 – he’s every inch as gifted and time is on his side to prove that, but he’s getting no chance in England because of absolutely damn bad luck.
But he’s not going to be cheap – the best Rangers can do is get him on loan. We are not going to spend £10M on him and cover the wages, which will be in the £50K region. We don’t have that cash.
Our highest-paid player is around £30K and that’s a LOT for Rangers. No one is going above that. Would Brighton loan him out and pay a portion of his wage?
Possibly. But then the big question some might ask is where does Billy fit in at Ibrox? Well, that’s easy enough. John Lundstram may, may just be starting to decline now, while Ryan Jack had one shining performance and that was it. Glen Kamara wants out anyway, while the only one we can actually rely on is Nicolas Raskin. And he’s injured!
There is definitely space in there for a talent like Gilmour.
Let’s face it, Gilmour, Raskin and Cantwell would be about the most talented Rangers midfield in a generation, containing players of the right age and hunger, and not lacking a bit of punch too.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. There’s no suggestion Rangers want Gilmour, or that he wants Rangers. So while Barry and many of us rate the kid, it’s probably a non-starter anyway.