Who you replacing him with for 10 million, he’s a six to my eye mate, 6 doesn’t necessarily have to deeply anchor a midfield, they can push the press and cover the space - that’s a very understated part of his game. I enjoy watching him off the ball, particularly live. If you want to know how good a 6 is you don’t watch them on the ball, you watch them off it - to my mind this can only be done live, you see so much more of a 6 at a game.
He never played as a defensive midfield '6' until 2018/2019 season when he was moved there under Ancelotti. His stats dropped to such an extent that the media and Napoli fans got onto it and wanted him back at '8' as a central pressing midfielder that relied on his energy and desire.
As hes become older (and with Ancelotti again) with us hes being used as a defensive player again but you can see the difference when Delph plays in the positioning and attributes.
Im not saying we can replace him with £10mil. It should be part of a wider clearout of a bloated squad...were overloaded and numbers wise could move on 15/16 and sign 5/6. Recycling 2 players for £20-30mil would enable us to bring in one replacement.
I'd have gone for Kamara out of contract (now Villa) or Bissouma with one year left (close to Villa move). Ive spoken about Tchouameni for two seasons, Guimaraes also of course.
That '6' position is probably the most difficult to recruit into as we dont have the defence behind or midfield in front of them to gauge whether we need a Gana type or an anchor, or even a deep playmaker.
Gilmour has the technical ability to be the deep playmaker, has the snide as well to balance for his light frame BUT is he going to be effective? He looks like he'd be roaming when we have the ball but may not have defensive awareness.
Otherwise, Joao Palhinha was who I wanted when we were linked with Nunez at Sporting last year, Sangare is also a good player. Both have a big presence of course.
Edson Alvarez was someone I noticed for the Mexican side as a defender when playing the exciting football through Lozano etc. He looks very effective as a '6' for Ajax.
But as above, its a bit tricky to say what type we need without knowing about the rest of the spine in front and behind.