Chelsea have chosen to extend Billy Gilmour’s contract at the club by a year, keeping him at Stamford Bridge until 2024.
The 21-year-old made his senior debut for the Blues under Frank Lampard in August 2019 and has made 22 first team appearances for the west London club.
However, he was deemed surplus to requirements last season and spent the campaign on loan at Norwich City, which was not as successful as he, Chelsea or the Canaries would have hoped for.
The Scot made 24 Premier League appearances, 21 of which were starts, as Norwich finished bottom of the table, 16 points from safety.
While Norwich’s plight was hardly the fault of the on-loan midfielder, Canaries fans chanted ‘f*** off back to Chelsea’ at him after particularly poor results in December, when they lost 5-0 to Arsenal and 3-0 against Crystal Palace.
However, Chelsea have exercised the option to extend his contract in west London and he will be tied to the club until 2024.
Whether Gilmour will be able to break into the Chelsea first team this season or not is yet to be seen, with competition for places still raging.
The likes of Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley are all competing for a place in the middle of the Blues’ midfield under Thomas Tuchel.
As will be Conor Gallagher, who is returning from a much more successful loan stint at Crystal Palace, where the 22-year-old thoroughly impressed and has earned three England caps this season as a result.
Having scored eight league goals in 34 appearances over the season, he will hope to have impressed Tuchel enough to play a big part for the Blues in the coming campaign.
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