There is a new star at Stanford Bridge and his name is Billy Gilmour. The teenager has helped Chelsea to record two straight wins and won man of the match awards in the two starts this season. The Blues are a different animal when the midfielder is fielded.
The Scot was excellent in the FA Cup win over Liverpool and was at it again at the Bridge yesterday few days later on his full Premier League debut. Calm and composed in possession, he helped set the tone for a superb Chelsea performance that yielded the club’s biggest league success of the campaign.
For the second time in five days, Gilmour showed no nerves on such a big stage.
Here, we have compiled few things about this diminutive player you may not know about before now:
1. Billy Clifford Gilmour (born 11 June 2001) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Chelsea.
2. Gilmour was born in Glasgow and resided in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire.
3. His father served with the Royal Navy and played junior football for Ardrossan Winton Rovers.
4. Gilmour attended Stanley Primary School in Ardrossan and Grange Academy in Kilmarnock, where he was part of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) Performance School programme.
5. He has represented Scotland at under-16, under-17 and under-21 levels.
6. Gilmour developed his career as part of Rangers Academy. His progress saw him fast-tracked towards the first team, making his debut for the under-20 development team in December 2016 at the age of 15 and being invited to train with the first team squad the following month by manager Mark Warburton.
7. Gilmour was given a squad number and, following Warburton’s departure from the club, was twice included in the provisional squad for Scottish Cup matches by Rangers caretaker manager Graeme Murty.
8. The next Rangers manager, Pedro Caixinha, described Gilmour as a player with a “bright future” and held talks with the player’s family in an attempt to persuade him to stay with the club.
9. Rangers announced in May 2017 that they had reached an agreement for Gilmour to join Chelsea for a “significant fee”. Reports suggested that Chelsea would pay an initial development fee of around £500,000, with potential further payments dependent on his progress.
10. Gilmour became officially contracted to Chelsea in July 2017, following his 16th birthday.
11. He joined the club’s under-18 squad, making a goalscoring debut in an Under-18 Premier League match against Arsenal during September 2017, and going on to score in each of his first three appearances.
12. In July 2018, after turning 17, Gilmour signed his first professional contract with Chelsea.
13. Newly-appointed Chelsea manager Frank Lampard gave Gilmour his senior debut on 10 July 2019, in a pre-season friendly against Bohemians in Dublin.
14. His first appearance in a competitive matchday squad for the first team came in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup against Liverpool, when he was an unused substitute.
15. He made his Premier League debut on 31 August against Sheffield United, coming on in the 84th minute for Tammy Abraham.
16. He made his full debut on 25 September, playing the full 90 minutes in a 7–1 EFL Cup win against Grimsby Town.
17. Gilmour was added to the Chelsea first-team squad on a permanent basis in February 2020.
18. Gilmour made his Scotland under-17 debut against Italy in August 2017, and scored his first international goal in a 2–1 defeat against England two days later.
19. He made his under-21 debut in the 2018 Toulon Tournament, in a 1–0 win against France, going on to win the “Revelation of the Tournament” after helping Scotland to a fourth-placed finish.
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