SAD NEWS: Brighton hit hard by injury setback, leading Napoli to scrap Sc… Read More

Napoli’s hopes of partnering Scott McTominay with Scotland team-mate Billy Gilmour have been shelved, with Matt O’Riley’s injury ensuring Gilmour stays at Brighton.

McTominay is headed to Italy for a medical ahead of a permanent move from Manchester United to Napoli. His arrival will be part of a significant summer overhaul under new manager Antonio Conte, with David Neres and Alessandro Buongiorno among the other confirmed arrivals.

Gilmour was also on Conte’s radar, with the Italian hopeful of sealing a permanent move for the former Chelsea youngster. He has already played with McTominay at international level, but now won’t be doing so in Serie A.

That’s because O’Riley, a summer signing from Celtic, was injured on his Brighton debut. With the Danish international requiring surgery, Gilmour’s services are likely to be needed more urgently than first thought.

O’Riley started against Crawley Town in the Carabao Cup second round, just one day after completing his £25m switch. He was forced to leave the field inside 10 minutes, though, after a heavy tackle from Crawley’s Jay Williams.

“It’s a bad injury,” Seagulls manager Fabian Hurzeler told reporters after the setback. “He needs surgery on his ankle. I can’t say how long he will be out.”

According to The Express, Brighton have now called a halt to talks with Napoli over Gilmour. The 23-year-old, who joined from Chelsea in 2022, came off the bench in the opening day victory at Everton and started last weekend’s win over Manchester United.

Brighton beat Crawley 4-0 despite the early blow, with Simon Adingra, Jeremy Sarmiento, Adam Webster and Mark O’Mahony on target. After the game, though, Hurzeler made very clear how he felt about Williams’ tackle on O’Riley.

“I think after this foul [on Matt], it was like the players thought they could tackle like they want because he didn’t get a yellow card for this foul,” the German said. “For me it was a clear red card. You can’t tackle like this, in my opinion.