Gilmour may not be quickest but he pulled fast one on his critics
For gamers of a certain age, Football Manager was all the rage.
It may have taken an eternity to download but seeing your own name in the Clyde squad list was always a thrill and, if memory serves me correctly, I was also somewhat of a bargain.
It will be a similar feeling for Billy Gilmour every time he grabs his console to play FIFA 20.
To use the lingo, the Chelsea star is a bronze card with a rating of 64 but his potential hits the mark and by all accounts it’s a decent stat, according to someone addicted to the Xbox.
EA Sports are no slouches when it comes to getting teenage players on to their system for a variety of reasons.
It’s a combination of showing themselves to be accurate on who’s new and breaking through but it’s also hip to be seen appreciating the latest baller.
Whoever’s charged with compiling the strengths and weaknesses of any given player should take a bow as very few of the player profiles are difficult to argue with.
and Gilmour scores has of a all player the attributes wearing the next-big-thing tag but one mark stands out and it brought back a memory. The 18-year-old scores 59 for pace and again I’m told it’s not anything to shout about, at the lower end of the scale in sprinting terms.
A few years ago a writing assignment took me through to Edinburgh’s Oriam.
Three days at the national performance centre to assess
Scotland’s Victory Shield squad of 2016 and look at talents such as Harry Cochrane of Hearts, Aberdeen’s Dean Campbell, Ethan Erhahon of St Mirren, Celtic’s Karamoko
Dembele and man of
the moment Gilmour. caught One diminutive the eye as kid the ball started rolling. He was instantly demanding the ball, wanting to take every set-piece and strolling
around the AstroTurf
with the air of a player who knew
he was better than anyone on the pitch that day against Northern Ireland. Cochrane was clearly a player with impressive attributes, Campbell was also a talent and Dembele did enough to justify the hype for a 13-year-old who was
making headlines. A game against Republic of Ireland followed and one constant remained with this kid Gilmour. He was neat, tidy and had a hunger for the ball but something was missing from a player who at that time was on the books at Rangers.
For all of the assurance on the ball, there was a reluctance to make supporting runs forward or get ahead of his strikers.
A couple of elderly chaps reacted to a comment I’d made about how good a player he was technically but I’d queried if or ever had he thought about getting into advanced areas. One of the gents interjected with a “never”, adding: “He lacks the pace. I’ve watched him for a few years and I’m still waiting for him to make a run ahead of the strikers.” chief His scouts mate agreed. from two They Premier were League giants and weren’t going to take their interest any further due to what they regarded as a lack of pace, not enough gears was how they described his failing. They were both there to watch Cochrane. Judges of teenage talent can be savage and hypercritical, it’s their job and the player who only turned 18 last June is having the last laugh with his breakthrough p performances for Chelsea against Liverpool and Everton. It was interesting to read that his idol is former Barca pass master Andres
In Iniesta and fair
p play, the Spaniard wasn’t by any means a speed merchant. Instead, it was his brain and vision which accelerated much faster fa than most of his h team-mates.
There have been so s many young Scots as hopefully teenagers who Gilmour have only burned to bucks fade brightly that and trend by becoming a success for both club and country. There are many who were tipped for the highest level
of the game only to sink into
obscurity. I shared a dressing room with boys who had the world at their feet only for their careers to nosedive for a variety of reasons, lack of pace being a common one. case last. In football Gilmour’s that if you’re it’s skill no not longer set fast is multi- the you’re layered. His is a talent which may be the real deal and the most exciting in a generation, even if he’s being scored down on FIFA.
Judges of teenage talent can be hypercritical and savage but Gilmour is having the last laugh with his displays