Billy Gilmour handed Rangers transfer pitch as Chelsea misfit urged to kickstart career with 'comfortable' return

Chelsea outcast Billy Gilmour has been told he should consider a return to Rangers to kickstart his career away from the English Premier League.

Gilmour left the Ibrox academy for Stamford Bridge as a teenager and looked set to be the next big thing in the English top flight as he made his first-team breakthrough under Frank Lampard. However, since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel, regular minutes have been hard to come by and the Scotland cap spent last season on loan at Norwich City during their doomed Premier League survival bid, in which he was scapegoated by the Carrow Road fans.

The 21-year-old has returned to Chelsea this summer but things haven't improved after Tuchel cut Gilmour from their Stateside pre-season tour, and he has failed to make a match day squad during the opening two league fixtures this term. Speculation has now ramped up over the midfielder's future, with both Brighton and Everton named among the interested parties.

But former Ibrox hero Ian Ferguson insists working under Gio van Bronckhorst this season could be the perfect move for Gilmour. He insists game time is the most important thing for the playmaker at this stage of his career.

When speaking about Hearts' success last term ahead of their Europa League showdown on PLZ, Ferguson swerved onto Gilmour as he compared a move north to Barrie McKay's switch to Tynecastle last summer. He said: "They have not got bundles of money.

"I mean, they are a very well supported club, and it's a fantastic crowd that go there, but they have not been spending fortunes to get the squad together.

"Barrie McKay went down south (and came back), so he's not up here for the money. He is up here to get a game.

'He wants to play, and it's a bit like Billy