Napoli are expected to step up their pursuit of Billy Gilmour – after clearing a space in midfield.

The Serie A side are keen on adding the Albion player to their revamped squad under Antonio Conte.

They have seen at least one bid knocked back and are expected to come back once they have offloaded Swedish midfielder Jens-Lys Cajuste to Brentford.

The expectations in Italy are for Cajuste to join the Bees on an initial loan with an obligation to buy for a fee of around £10 million.

It is likely they would then need to find rather more than that to persuade the Seagulls to part company with Gilmour.

Albion head coach Fabian Huerzeler said after the win at QPR on Saturday that he expected Gilmour back in training this week.

The Scotland international has not appeared in any of the team’s three public friendlies so far.

Conte is looking to rebuild Napoli after their desperately disappointing title defence last season and target an assault on champions Inter.

He was Chelsea boss when Gilmour was in the youth ranks at Stamford Bridge, although he left at about the same time as the midfielder signed his first professional deal.

Albion, meanwhile, have been strongly linked with interest in Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley.

The Seagulls are making progress towards bringing in Paraguay midfielder Diego Gomez from Inter Miami in the January window