Antonio Conte targets former Chelsea star as Euro side 'confident' of transfer for Rangers academy graduate

Napoli are ready to up the ante in pursuit of Rangers academy graduate Billy Gilmour.

The midfielder left his boyhood club as a teenager for Chelsea in 2017, where he stayed until 2022 before joining Brighton. He has established himself as a key player for the Seagulls and for the Scottish national team, but now interest has appeared in his services.

It’s claimed in the Mail On Sunday that an initial £8m offer from Napoli has been rebuffed by Brighton for the former Rangers kid. However, they are “ready to increase their offer” and further talks are set for this week coming. It goes on to say “the Italians confident of reaching agreement over signing the 23-year-old Scotland star.”

It’s not all been plain-sailing for Gilmour to get to the point of interest from a European heavyweight. Speaking to Men’s Health Magazine earlier this summer, he spoke of a difficult loan to Norwich City from Chelsea as part of the making of him.

Gilmour said: “Things had been going so well and then I went on loan to Norwich, which I thought would be good for me. It turned out to be a fight, a battle. I learned a lot. At the time, I didn’t enjoy it on the pitch.

“It didn’t look like I was going back to play at Chelsea – when I was getting picked for Scotland, I wasn’t playing either – so I was just a young kid and it was a low time for me. I had great people around me like Kenny McLean and Grant Hanley who really helped me through.

“I learned how strong I was. I put a smile on my face, even though I was hurting, especially when I was living on my own in Norwich. Some nights I’d be sitting there thinking “this is crap”, but that’s where my family helped me. You can only learn from that.”