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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.”

Speaking further, Mauro also indicated that Gilmour might not be the Lobotka back-up that Napoli wanted.

“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.