Gilmour keen to make up for lost time

BACK in March, successive virtuoso displays for Chelsea against Liverpool and Everton saw Billy Gilmour become the subject of a national debate.

Established in the Scotland Under-21 side, the question of his readiness to make the step up to the full squad for the forthcoming play-off match with Israel was asked far and wide.

Lockdown, as we well know, kicked the issue into the long grass. Gilmour didn’t kick a ball for his club until June 25. Scotland did, of course, famously reconvene against Israel and Serbia but by that time he was in the midst of recovering from a knee injury.

Whether the former Rangers trainee would have made it into Steve Clarke’s party had the Euros been held as intended in the summer is no longer relevant.

Gilmour will be a year older and wiser by the time they do now dawn next June. The fact he has more time to make that compelling case for inclusion can surely only be a positive.

‘I just need to work hard here,’ he said ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Krasnodar. ‘It would be an amazing chance to get into that squad.

‘We were with the Under-21s team and all the coaching staff and players were watching the game against Serbia.

‘After we were through, we were buzzing, it was a great feeling.

‘To have a chance with Scotland, I just need to play well here.’

Gilmour made 11 top-team appearances for the Blues in his breakthrough season before the pandemic and surgery on a torn miniscus put the brakes on him.

All told, he missed three months before returning to action for his club’s Under-23s last month, with his international comeback ending ignominiously with a red card for