Smith insists Chelsea starlet has ‘big role to play’ at Norwich
Former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has insisted that Chelsea starlet Billy Gilmour has a “big role to play” at Norwich City this season.
Gilmour is highly rated at Stamford Bridge and he has played eleven times for them in the Premier League since 2019.
The midfielder left Chelsea during the summer as he joined Norwich City on a season-long loan deal.
Top ten underrated Premier League managers
The Scotsman has not featured much for the Canaries this term as he has only started four times in the Premier League.
Daniel Farke was their manager but he has now been replaced by ex-Aston Villa head coach Smith.
As reported by BBC Sport, Smith has suggested that Gilmour and Todd Cantwell now have a “new start”:
“They have got a big role to play at this football club, along with the rest of the squad,” Smith said.
“It’s a new start for them with a new coaching team coming in.
“We’ll see them in training tomorrow and it’s down to them to impress us in our time here.”
Smith went onto say that the Norwich job is not a “risk” for him:
“It feels good to be here. I said last week I’ve only been out of work for four months and I didn’t enjoy it. Losing the job one week then being re-employed in the Premier League the following week is a good week.
“If I thought it was a risk I wouldn’t have taken the job. We’ve got 27 games left and there are lots of points to play for.
“I’ve seen how progressive this club is. It’s been difficult so far but our job is to keep us in the league this season and that’s firmly what I believe we can do.
“The players have to go and perform and the win away at Brentford last time should give them confidence to build on.”
The new Norwich City boss also stated that they have “conceded too many” goals so far this season:
“Our top priority is to not concede goals. We’ve conceded too many already.
“We’ve got talented players and we need to go and score more goals, obviously. There are players here that can do both sides of the job. I think there’s enough quality to stay up.
“Expect to see an organised, hard-working team. Each day in training is a day for the players to learn and to enjoy.
“We won’t go too far away from the football the club has developed. We certainly won’t stop the flair of some of our players – we just want to be that bit more difficult to beat.
“Hopefully the supporters can enjoy some really good performances.”
