THRILL BILL
Grounded Gilmour’s living his EPL dream
I’d phone my dad: ‘I was training with Cesc Fabregas and Hazard!’
BILLY GILMOUR
BILLY GILMOUR has spent his teenage years looking up to people in more ways than one.
The 19-year-old Scot is one of the brightest prospects at Chelsea and admits that he has worked extra hard on the technical side of his game to overcome bigger and stronger opponents.
And there is also a wonderfully grounded nature to Gilmour who has lost none of his wide-eyed enthusiasm about training and working with players he grew up idolising.
Gilmour, who joined the Blues as a 16-year-old from Rangers in 2017, said: “Cesc Fabregas was still there when I did two or three sessions with the first team and that was amazing because all the time growing up I had watched him, Andres Iniesta and Xavi.
“The first time I was a bit star struck, thinking: ‘this is Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard.’ It was a bit surreal. It was amazing to even train with those players, top professionals.
“You just sort of go over, say good morning, shake their hand and then after the session, I’d phone my dad… ‘I was training with Cesc Fabregas and Hazard!’ It was like being a kid again!”
Gilmour, who is 5ft 7ins, has already been compared to the likes of Xavi and Iniesta by Chelsea fans and it is easy to see why as his passing, ability on the ball and enthusiasm in midfield make him stand out. But he has never let his size get in the way of his progress.
He said: “I’m not going to grow much more and being small, and not the biggest, it means I have to be technically really good, especially knowing where I am on the pitch and not getting into physical battles.
“If there’s a tackle there to be won, I will give it my all and I’ve never pulled out of a challenge. That goes back to when I was young, I was 12 or 13 playing with 18 year olds and that’s how it’s always been growing up when size didn’t matter and you played because you loved it.
“I still see it that way and if you’re good technically and you’re on the ball, then they have to get it off you and you have to learn from that. If you do get knocked off the ball then you have to learn from it.
“You have to work that much harder to make it, do more core work, work hard in the gym and, at the same time, more focus on technical ability. You can also be the biggest guy in the world and be terrible technically.”
Gilmour was going great guns before lockdown, earning rich praise – even from notoriously hard-to-please Roy Keane – for a stunning man of the match performance against Everton.
Now he dreams of getting into the
Champions League next season and a senior call-up for Scotland.
Gilmour said: “I’ve been on the bench for a Champions League game and just hearing that music is a bit crazy. Chances will come and I have to make sure that I work hard and train well.
“There’s also no better feeling than representing your country. That’s a long term aim, hopefully I can get the opportunity.”