Premier League giants Arsenal released Charlie Gilmour last summer – he is now playing for SC Telstar on loan from Daniel Farke’s Norwich City.
Norwich City midfielder Charlie Gilmour has no regrets about his departure from Arsenal, telling the Pink ‘Un that he has become a far better footballer on loan in the second tier of Dutch football.
Football can be a cruel game at times. After 14 years honing his talents in The Gunners’ prestigious youth academy, a Brighton-born starlet suddenly found himself without a club after the North London giants decided to release him in the summer of 2019.
Fortunately for Gilmour, he only had to wait a couple of weeks before Norwich came calling.
And though the 21-year-old is yet to make his debut for Daniel Farke’s Canaries, instead spending the 2019/20 campaign in the Eerste Divisie with Telstar under ex-Arsenal coach Andries Joncker, he feels that playing senior, first-team football at any level is more beneficial to his development than the sterilised academy game.
“I have enjoyed pretty much every minute of my time in the Netherlands so far. When I first arrived here I literally came from Arsenal to SC Telstar, and I had been at Arsenal all my life,” says a man who has represented both England and Scotland at youth level.
“At Arsenal you get the best treatment and everything is of the highest quality, and because they are one of the biggest clubs in the world you get everything handed to you on a plate in terms of best facilities and coaches.
“Arriving at SC Telstar was very different but it taught me the real world really, and I did not realise it was like this I feel that I have learned a lot more here in the Netherlands than I would have done if I had stayed at Arsenal.”
Considering that Mikel Arteta has given plenty of game-time to Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and co since taking over at the Emirates, it is tempting to wonder where Gilmour would be right now if The Gunners had handed him a new deal last summer.
But it’s a credit to the young midfielder that he has no desire to look back.
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