Brighton & Hove Albion earned over €10m from the sale of Billy Gilmour in the summer, as the Scotsman joined Napoli.
The midfielder hadn’t started for the Partenopei in Serie A until the weekend but Stanislav Lobotka’s injury meant that the Scotland international was in the XI against Empoli.
It wasn’t a great performance by any means, as Gilmour struggled physically and didn’t impress from a defensive perspective.
Former Napoli midfielder Massimo Mauro has now spoken about the ex-Brighton man’s performance.
He told Mediaset, as relayed by AreaNapoli: “In my opinion, he’s not up to par.”
“If Stanislav Lobotka is still missing, it will be a big problem for Napoli.”
Last week there was excitement around Gilmour and within days, the narrative seems to have changed, which is typical of the media around Napoli.
The 23-year-old’s time at Brighton shows that he took a while to get going at the Amex, as he wasn’t a regular in his first season. Over the next campaign, he grew in stature and began playing more regularly.
So Napoli might just have to be a bit patient with the new signing, who is adapting in a completely new country. Judging him harshly in his first Serie A start wouldn’t really be wise.