Few young British talents seem to stir so much emotion as Billy Gilmour. Moving to Chelsea from Rangers midway through his teens, he seemed destined for the top of the game after some promising early performances. Yet the last year has not gone to plan for Gilmour and he has divided opinion while on loan at Norwich City.
The latest to wade into the conversation is Charlie Nicholas. A former Scottish international himself, Nicholas was keen to emphasize that Gilmour needed to show more for his national side too.
“Billy Gilmour is a talented player but if he is not careful he could end up becoming the next Barry Bannan,” he wrote for the Daily Record, as quoted by Rangers Review.
“Gilmour is a tidy footballer but he has to offer more and we need to stop making him out to be our saviour. He struggled in the play-off because he didn’t get on the ball enough – and when he did it was square pass, square pass.”
“Let’s hope he can make a greater impact than Bannan – another physically small midfielder who did OK for a few seasons but failed to hit the heights everyone hoped.”
Gilmour has been excellent since coming into the Scottish team last summer for the Euro 2020 tournament. It must be said that Nicholas’ words seem harsh on Gilmour, who has had few poor performances for Scotland and although didn’t have the game he would’ve wanted against Ukraine, was far from alone in that.
Gilmour is expected to become a fixture in Scotland’s midfield over the next decade and is still at the start of his fledgling career, being just 20 years old.
