Billy Gilmour should STAY at Chelsea to fight for his place and learn from ‘winners’ like Phil Foden has done at Manchester City, insists Graeme Souness: ‘Jorginho has to be looking over his shoulder’
- Billy Gilmour was man of the match as Scotland drew with England at Euro 2020
- Norwich are keen to take Gilmour on loan with Jorginho ahead of him at Chelsea
- Graeme Souness thinks Gilmour should stay and learns of ‘winners’ around him
Graeme Souness has urged fellow Scot Billy Gilmour to follow Phil Foden’s lead and stay at Chelsea to fight for his place rather than going out on loan to Norwich City.
Gilmour, 20, was man of the match for Scotland against England at Euro 2020 but is behind N’Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic in Thomas Tuchel’s midfield pecking order, with newly-promoted Norwich leading to race to sign him on loan.
But Souness has told Gilmour to stay at Chelsea and learn off ‘winners’, just as Foden has done at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola and Souness himself did at Liverpool in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Graeme Souness (right) thinks Billy Gilmour (left) should turn down loans to stay at Chelsea
The pundit told Sky Sports News: ‘I’d personally keep him at Chelsea. I think Jorginho has to be looking over his shoulder. He’ll be challenging him more than anyone else. I look at Phil Foden at City and Pep didn’t let him go out on loan.
‘I look back on my own career and think how did I improve – there was no words of wisdom, no sentence any coach said to me, there was no watershed moment in my career where I turned a corner.
‘What made me better, I was 23, went to Liverpool, arguably the best team in the world – certainly the best team in Europe – and I was playing with fabulous players in training every single day.
Phil Foden wasn’t allowed to leave Man City on loan and was crowned young player of the year
‘I learnt to think quicker, to improve my touch, move the ball quicker and just being around winners – Chelsea have got bundles of them – that will improve him more than playing in a lesser team where it’s a battle every week. That’s how I see it, Phil Foden is an argument for that.’
Gilmour joined Chelsea from Rangers in 2017 and has played 22 times for the club.