Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has revealed that youngster Billy Gilmour is roughly four weeks away from being fit, as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
The 19-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough year last season into the Blues first-team, making his first 11 senior appearances for the club and not looking out of place.
He is an all-action central midfielder that really announced his arrival with a masterclass performance in an FA Cup win over Liverpool and that lead to some action in the Premier League.
The Scottish teenager is extremely effective at the base of midfield in a deep-lying playmaker role where he can show off his range of passing, but has been used further forward in a number eight position too and is fierce in his tackling.
Lampard was asked about whether Gilmour will have a key role in the side when he’s fully fit again and explained he will be an “important member” of the group.
“He’s progressing well. It was forecast as a four-month injury when he went into surgery and we’re three months on from that so it will be four weeks from now that he’ll be hopefully fit barring any hiccups,” Lampard said in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by the club’s official Youtube account.
“His attitude and how he approaches everything in his professional life is spot-on so he’ll give himself the best chance to be back and as fresh as he can in four weeks and he’ll be an important member of the squad at that point.”
With Gilmour’s imminent, it will be interesting to see him battle for a position in the Chelsea side and the signs are certainly there in his game to suggest he’s ready to do just that.
The tenacious midfielder has clearly earned the faith of manager Lampard and it’s his job to try force his way into the side alongside the likes of N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho.
The upcoming two-week international break is going to give Gilmour more time to continue his recovery and soon enough Lampard may finally have a full squad available to pick from.
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