Billy Gilmour is a superb technical talent – but it was his toughness that convinced Chelsea to sign him.
Jody Morris tells the story in an interview in the Times today of how he was sent to scout Gilmour when he was still the manager of the development squad.
One day he was sent to Scotland to watch a serious talent the club were interested in signing, but what caught his eye wasn’t the skill on show, but the character.
Gilmour was in the Rangers youth team, taking on their Hibs equivalent. Only 15 and up against fully grown men, he could have hidden. Instead, it was the opposite:
“Billy played well, nothing special. But there were bits of bullying going on of a 15-year-old by older pros who weren’t in the Hibs first team,” Morris recounted.
“He waited for an opportunity to smash them back — and did. I’d seen loads of stuff with him looking technically great. Lovely passing, a bright footballer who understood the game. That reminded me a bit of myself. When you’re little, people try and take liberties. So I liked the personality to stand up to it.
“It wasn’t a red card challenge for me. But I remember thinking: I like that side of it. As he walked off, I said to our chief youth scout Jim Fraser: Let’s go, that’s us seen all we need. He’ll do for me.â€
What a tale. We love the idea that Scottish youth football is just loads of old pros kicking lumps out of 15 year olds, although that’s probably quite an unfair impression of the whole thing.
We’ve seen that tenacity plenty of times since then from Billy, who has also grown physically since then, and looks every week less like a notably scrawny presence on the pitch.
He’s got his work cut out on the determination from now though – he’s got to force his way into the Norwich team after barely playing this season.
Given what we know, we’d back him to have the grit to do it.
