Chelsea and Scotland Under-21 midfielder Billy Gilmour swapped a chance of playing for Rangers for a development pathway at Chelsea and insists he made the right choice because Scott Brown would have bullied him off the ball if he had stayed.
The former Ibrox prospect has been tipped to be the best player of his generation after moving to London last summer in a £500,000 move when Chelsea beat off competition from Manchester United, Manchester City and Bayern Munich to land him when he was only 15.
A year on, Gilmour has already clinched four trophies with Chelsea’s youngsters and has been fast tracked into Scotland Under-21s at the Toulon Tournament this week, where he could line up against hosts France today. The Scotland coaching team have been raving about his progress too.
In his first major interview, Gilmour revealed the agonising he had to go through when he quit Rangers to move to London.
He had been promoted to training with the Rangers first team and the 16-year-old would have almost certainly have made the starting XI, just as his pal Harry Cochrane has done at Hearts.
But he is convinced he can make an impact at Chelsea and has absolutely no regrets about his move.