Billy Gilmour: Scotland should pick midfielder, says Harry Redknapp
- Published
Chelsea 4-0 Everton: Frank Lampard says Billy Gilmour will be judged on a "different level"
Billy Gilmour should be called up to Scotland's senior squad for the Euro 2020 play-offs, says former Tottenham and West Ham manager Harry Redknapp.
Chelsea's Gilmour, 18, has excelled in Chelsea's past two games and was included in the Scotland Under-21s squad on Tuesday.
Scotland's senior team face Israel on 26 March and, if victorious, will take on Norway or Serbia in the final.
"I'd get him in the squad for sure," Redknapp told 大象传媒 Radio Scotland.
"Playing against Liverpool, Everton - that's as good as it gets, they're top teams. Liverpool are an incredible team. So, I think he could cope. Unless they're that strong in midfield, Scotland, where they think he's nowhere near the standard of the players that are in there.
"He's played against top opposition and he's been the best player, he's run the game. Why not get him in the squad? He wouldn't be the first 18-year-old to play international football, would he?"
Redknapp, who had almost 1,400 matches as a manager and won the FA Cup with Portsmouth in 2008, is the uncle of Chelsea boss Frank Lampard.
"I speak to Frank a couple of times a week and he said the kid's got an amazing attitude; what a great lad he is and how much he loves playing and what a good player he is," Redknapp told Sportsound.
"He's got a long way to go. He looks to me to be a smashing kid with a great talent so he's got every chance. He's been absolutely brilliant."
Gilmour 'a flag bearer'
Scot Gemmill's under-21 side take on Croatia and Greece during the next international break and Scottish FA performance director Malky Mackay believes Gilmour will be "the player of the next generation".
"I have not seen someone like him for years," said Mackay.
"There is talent here but with top players talent has to be matched up with those two or three things that make top players what they are and that comes down to sacrifice, dedication and hard work and single-minded focus to just be a footballer.
"He is a flag bearer for that and that is what is setting him apart.
"Steve Clarke regularly speaks to myself and Scot concerning the players and he has obviously been to watch him. I am also conscious that we have a jam-packed midfield of talented players in Scotland, by far our strongest area.
"In the meantime Billy will continue to be a mainstay of the 21s. It is his first under-21 campaign, he is only 18, so he may have two more campaigns in him. Do I think he will get to that point if he keeps going the way he is going? No I don't."