Billy Clifford Gilmour (born 11 June 2001) is a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and the Scotland national team. Gilmour spent three months at a young age with Celtic before moving to Rangers, where he developed in the club's

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

and trained with the first-team squad at the age of 15. He joined Chelsea in 2017 after turning down a professional contract with Rangers. Gilmour made 22 appearances for the ''Blues'' and was on the bench for the 2021

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

finals. He spent a season on loan at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

where the club were eventually relegated before he signed with

on a permanent move the season after on summer deadline day 2022. He represented Scotland at every youth level from under-15, under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels before making his senior debut in 2021.

Early life

Gilmour was born on 11 June 2001 at

Ayrshire Central Hospital Ayrshire Central Hospital, also known as Irvine Central Hospital, is an NHS hospital in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Ayrshire and Arran. History Formation The hospital is constructed on land which was formerly part of ...

Irvine, Ayrshire Irvine ( ; sco, Irvin,
gd, Irbhinn, IPA: and resided in

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the ' Three Towns'. Ardrossan is located on the east shore ...

, North Ayrshire. His father served with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and played junior football for Ardrossan Winton Rovers. Gilmour attended Stanley Primary School in Ardrossan and Grange Academy in Kilmarnock, where he was part of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) Performance School programme. He listed

Cesc Fàbregas Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas Soler (; ; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Italian Serie B club Como. Fàbregas came through ''La Masia'', Barcelona's youth academy, leaving at 16 when ...

Luka Modrić Luka Modrić (; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. He plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an a ...

and

Andrés Iniesta Andrés Iniesta Luján (; born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and is the captain of J1 League club Vissel Kobe. Considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Iniesta has spent most of hi ...

as his football role models.

Club career

Rangers

Gilmour spent three months at a young age with Celtic, before moving to Rangers due to the logistics of attending training. He made his debut for the under-20 development team in December 2016 at the age of 15, and was invited to train with the first-team squad the following month by manager

Mark Warburton Mark Warburton (born 6 September 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player who is a first-team coach at West Ham United. As a player, Warburton was a right back at non-League level with Enfield and Boreham Wood. He beg ...

. Gilmour was given a squad number and, following Warburton's departure from the club, was twice included in the provisional squad for the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers caretaker manager

Graeme Murty Graeme Stuart Murty (born 13 November 1974) is an English-born Scottish professional football coach and former player. He made 437 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, playing for York City, Reading, Charlton Athletic and Sout ...

. The next Rangers manager,

Pedro Caixinha Pedro Miguel Faria Caixinha (; born 15 November 1970) is a Portuguese professional football manager, currently in charge of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Red Bull Bragantino. He started coaching in his late twenties, acting an assistant ...

, described Gilmour as a player with a "bright future" and held talks with the player's family in an attempt to persuade him to stay with the club. Rangers, however, announced in May 2017 that they had reached an agreement for Gilmour to join

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

for a "significant fee". Reports suggested that Chelsea would pay an initial development fee of around £500,000, with potential further payments dependent on his progress. SFA Performance Director

Malky Mackay Malcolm George Mackay (born 19 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Ross County. Mackay, who played as a defender, began his playing career in Scottish football with Quee ...

had advised Gilmour and his family that he should stay at Rangers, as he would have had more chance of gaining first team experience. Mackay said, "I really hope he goes out on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

quickly to someone and keeps progressing".

Chelsea

Youth

Gilmour became officially contracted to Chelsea in July 2017, following his 16th birthday. He joined the club's under-18 squad, making a goalscoring debut in an Under-18 Premier League match against Arsenal during September 2017, and going on to score in each of his first three appearances. In July 2018, after turning 17, Gilmour signed his first professional contract with Chelsea.

2019–20

Newly-appointed Chelsea manager

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

gave Gilmour his senior debut on 10 July 2019, in a pre-season friendly against Bohemians in Dublin. His first appearance in a competitive matchday squad for the first-team came in the

2019 UEFA Super Cup The 2019 UEFA Super Cup was the 44th edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa Leag ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, when he was an unused substitute. He made his

debut on 31 August against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, coming on in the 84th minute for

Tammy Abraham Kevin Oghenetega Tamaraebi Bakumo-Abraham (born 2 October 1997), known as Tammy Abraham, is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Roma and the England national team. As an academy graduate of Chelsea, A ...

. He made his full debut on 25 September, playing the full 90 minutes in a 7–1 EFL Cup win against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

. Gilmour was added to the Chelsea first-team squad on a permanent basis in February 2020. He was widely praised for his performance in a 2–0 win against Liverpool in an

tie on 3 March. Gilmour would later make his first Premier League start later that week on 8 March against Everton, earning Man of the Match honours in a 4–0 win. He did not play much for the next six months or so, due to the lockdown caused by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

and a knee injury. Gilmour made 11 appearances for the Chelsea first team during the 2019–20 season.

2020–21

In September 2020, Gilmour took the 23 squad number for 2020–21 season after

Michy Batshuayi Michy Batshuayi-Atunga (born 2 October 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and the Belgium national team. Batshuayi began his professional career at Standard Liège in 2011, scorin ...

returned to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on loan. Gilmour returned to the Chelsea starting lineup on 8 December 2020, when he made his first Champions League start in a 1–1 draw with

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

. Under

Thomas Tuchel Thomas Tuchel (; born 29 August 1973) is a German professional football manager and former player who last managed Premier League club Chelsea. Born in Krumbach, Tuchel retired at age 25 after a chronic knee cartilage injury; in 2000, he b ...

, Gilmour would feature periodically. Gilmour was an unused substitute as Chelsea defeated Manchester City 1–0 in the

2021 UEFA Champions League Final The 2021 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Cup to the ...

on 29 May.

2021–22: loan to Norwich City

In July 2021, Gilmour joined fellow Premier League club

on a season-long loan. Gilmour cited fellow Scotland international

Grant Hanley Grant Campbell Hanley (born 20 November 1991) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Norwich City and the Scotland national team. He has previously played for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. Early year ...

as an influencing factor in his decision to join the club. He played 28 times for Norwich during the 2021–22 season, but the team finished last in the

2021–22 Premier League The 2021–22 Premier League was the 30th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992, and the 123rd season of top-flight English football overall. The start a ...

and were relegated. In June 2022, Chelsea exercised an option to extend Gilmour's contract to the end of the 2023–24 season.

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 1 September 2022, Gilmour transferred to fellow Premier League club

on a four-year deal. He made his debut three days later, coming on as a 90+3rd minute substitute for

Moisés Caicedo Moisés Isaac Caicedo Corozo (born 2 November 2001) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Ecuador national team. Professional career Independiente del Valle C ...

in the 5–2 home win over Leicester. Gilmour made his first ''Albion'' start on 9 November, playing the whole match of the 3–1 EFL Cup third round victory away at Arsenal, assisting Tariq Lamptey's goal. His first Premier League start for Brighton came on his sixth appearance, playing the whole match and picking up a yellow card in the 4–2 home loss against Arsenal on 31 December.

International career

Espana-escocia-sub19-16 (46374467514) (gilmour)

Gilmour played for the Scotland under-16s in the 2016

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Victory Shield had traditionally been competed for by the four Home Nations, but the Football ...

tournament. He made his Scotland under-17 debut against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in August 2017, and scored his first international goal in a 2–1 defeat against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

two days later. Under-21 debut followed when he featured in a 1–0 win against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the

2018 Toulon Tournament The 2018 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 46ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 46th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 26 May to 9 June 2018. Engl ...

, and won the ''Revelation of the Tournament'' award after helping Scotland to a fourth-placed finish. Gilmour was included in the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

for

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Steve Clarke ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

. He made his full international debut on 2 June 2021, coming off the bench in the 81st minute of a pre-tournament friendly against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Gilmour made his first start for Scotland in a goalless draw against

on 18 June, and was awarded man of the match by UEFA. He then tested positive for

, meaning that he missed Scotland's final group game against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Gilmour remained in the squad for Scotland's continuing 2022 World Cup qualifiers in September, starting all five games against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. His performances were widely acclaimed, with him winning man of the match in the 1–0 victory over Moldova at Hampden.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Chelsea Youth * U18 Premier League: 2017–18 * FA Youth Cup: 2017–18 Chelsea *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

runner-up:

Individual *

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

Breakthrough of the Tournament:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Best XI:

* Chelsea Academy Player of the Year: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the Chelsea F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmour, Billy 2001 births Living people Footballers from Irvine, North Ayrshire Scottish footballers Scotland youth international footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland international footballers Association football midfielders Rangers F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Premier League players UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Euro 2020 players People educated at Grange Academy, Kilmarnock