Billy Gilmour revealed what exactly stopped him from leaving Chelsea in January.
After breaking into the senior side this season, the teenager had a tough time carving out more minutes for himself.
Frank Lampard’s first choice were Jorginho, Matteo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante while Gilmour was only 17 at the time with very little experience to his name. The Scotsman was set on leaving on loan to an unnamed side this winter before a word with Lampard changed his mind.
“Around Christmas time, I was thinking that I might go out on loan for the rest of the season but got told to stay again and got moved into the first team building,” Gilmour told Chelsea’s official website (via Football.london). “The gaffer and Jody spoke to me and said they thought it was best for me to stay, play games with the Under-23s and train with the first team a lot more.
“I was happy with that, especially the chance to get more opportunities to train with the first team and express myself and show them what I’m about. That’s when I started to kick on from there by playing games consecutively and playing well. It’s worked out really well for me and all I can do is thank the manager for trusting in me.”
Gilmour played two consecutive games in centre midfield prior to the Coronavirus lockdown, both of them wins against Liverpool and Everton.
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