‘You can’t overestimate Gilmour’s importance to Scotland’

Has Billy Gilmour made himself one of the first names in Scotland’s XI?

That’s the view of The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell, who says the Brighton midfielder’s importance to Steve Clarke can’t be downplayed.

Gilmour left Chelsea in the summer of 2022 in search of more first-team football, but the influence of midfield duo Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo made it difficult for the Scot to force his way into Roberto de Zerbi’s team last term.

That’s changed this season, though, with Gilmour playing a key role in the Brighton midfield prior to his recent injury, which he made a return from in Sunday’s Premier League defeat at Bournemouth.

And Campbell feels the 22-year-old’s development this campaign has only elevated his status as a Scotland player.

“I don’t even think you can overestimate how important Gilmour is now to Scotland,” Campbell said on Tuesday’s Scottish Football Podcast.

“Go back even two or three years ago, he cemented himself in the Scotland team, but it still felt like there were some games Clarke perhaps preferred somebody else.

“But with his development over the last couple of years at Brighton, he’s now turning into the player everyone hoped he would become.

“He’s done so well to navigate his career, to get out of there and go to a progressive club like Brighton. You’ve seen him transform his body. He looks like a Premier League athlete now.

“He can get around the pitch, he’s really robust and it’s massive for Scotland he’s back because I think he’s one of the first, if not the first name on the team sheet now.”