Former Liverpool captain, Graeme Souness, has urged Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel, to change his decision and keep Billy Gilmour at Stamford Bridge beyond this summer transfer window.
Gilmour enjoyed a fabulous end to last season under Tuchel and delivered another remarkable display in Scotland’s goalless draw against England at Euro 2020 last Friday.
The 20-year-old midfielder has made 22 first-team appearances for Chelsea, but he is now close to joining Norwich City on loan for the 2021/22 season in order to get regular playing time.
But Souness believes Tuchel should keep Gilmour at the West London club in order to improve his development, adding that the youngster can challenge Jorginho for a place in Chelsea’s midfield.
“I would personally keep him [Billy Gilmour] at Chelsea. I think Jorginho has to be looking over his shoulder, ” Souness was quoted by Metro UK as saying.
“He will be challenging him more than anyone else. I look at Phil Foden at [Manchester] City and Pep [Guardiola] 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.
“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 is a battle every week. That is how I see it, Phil Foden is an argument for that.”
