Frank Lampard has been talking up Billy Gilmour’s qualities and urged the youngster to emulate Manchester United legend Paul Scholes.
N’Golo Kante’s injury and Jorginho’s suspension gave Gilmour the chance to prove he is ready for some first-team actions.
And in Chelsea last two games against Liverpool and Everton in March, the 18-year-old made a statement with two consecutive man of the match awards.
Manchester United icon Roy Keane made some uncharacteristic comments about Gilmour and even dubbed him “world class”.
Speaking in the Sky Sports’ The Football Show, Lampard said Keane’s judgement was “spot-on”.
The Chelsea manager added: “Billy should be happy with that and if he can go and follow the ideas that someone like Roy Keane says when it comes to midfield play he won’t go far wrong.”
Then Lampard pointed out the similarity between Gilmour and another Manchester United legend Scholes, although he refused to call it comparison.
He said: “Billy’s consistency, he does it daily, there aren’t many days when you don’t see him turn up and try and do those right things.
“I agree, you touch on Paul Scholes there, Scholes is obviously one of the greatest midfield players I’ve played against in the Premier League.
“If you did try and jump from midfield and get to him and get close to him he’d just play it around the corner because he knew you were coming. And Billy has shown early signs of that kind of ability.
“I’m not comparing him to Scholesy, no way at all, but in terms of those basics that you mentioned, then Billy certainly has them and that’s a great platform to build hopefully a fantastic career.”