Billy Gilmour feels no Brighton pressure replacing £160m pals as De Zerbi fess-up does the trick

Many would flounder at the mere thought of being flung into a £160m Premier League midfield void. But for Billy Gilmour the megabucks summer departures of Brighton stars Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister was never going to see him drown in the burden of expectation by the seaside.

Not when the Scotland ace was presented an opportunity to make up for two years treading water at the top of the English game and get his career flying again with the Seagulls. Gilmour is back to his midfield-orchestrating best, playing with a confidence and panache that could well see him become the next big money departure from the AMEX Stadium.

The 22-year-old insists he felt NO pressure replacing Caicedo after the Ecuador star’s record breaking £115m move to Chelsea last month which followed hot on the heels of World Cup winner Mac Allister’s switch to Liverpool which could eventually reach £55m.

It says quite a bit for the little playmaker who announced his Premier League arrival in some style as a teenager at Chelsea three years ago before bursting onto the international stage with a man of the match display in his first start for Scotland against England at Euro 2020 only to then see his career stall as he hunted regular game time at club level.

A loan spell at Norwich City in 2021-22 ended in relegation for the Canaries and unwarranted abuse for the little Scot from the Carrow Road support.

A £9m move to Brighton in the summer of 2022 appeared the perfect solution only for boss Graham Potter to leave for Chelsea a matter of weeks later and his successor Roberto De Zerbi to use Gilmour sparingly from the bench.

But thankfully that all changed when the Italian threw Gilmour in for a Premier League clash against Wolves in the