Billy Gilmour turns 50 caps old on Tuesday, which is a strange sentence to write about a player who still looks like he has wandered in from the youth team. Scotland host Slovenia at Hampden in Nations League Group B1, and the 25-year-old will reach a milestone that his career kept trying to deny him. His own verdict on it: "overall, it's another game."
A career interrupted, repeatedly
Chelsea took him from Rangers' academy when he was 16 and on the edge of the Ibrox first team. He made his Premier League debut two years later, then a serious knee injury stalled everything. The loan at Norwich was hard going. Brighton is where the confidence came back, and Napoli is where the reputation was finally made, alongside Scott McTominay, who arrived from Manchester United at the same time. They won Serie A in their first season together.
Then a groin problem around the turn of the year, and then the worst of it: a knee injury in the final pre-tournament friendly that ruled him out of this summer's World Cup. Gilmour's summary of all of this is "ups and downs", delivered without any apparent self-pity. Asked how he had changed since his first cap in 2021, he said he had "matured a lot" but was still the same player. "I still want to get on the ball, get on the ball technically. I know I'm not the strongest or biggest, so I try to stay away from all that, but I try to do my best whatever I'm told to do."
Pocognoli wants him further up
Sebastien Pocognoli has started Gilmour in all three of his games as Scotland head coach, and has asked him to influence matches higher up the pitch, closer to the areas McTominay occupied under Steve Clarke. McTominay's absence through illness has opened the door; Gilmour has walked through it.
"It's nice to hear that he wants me to play in a more advanced role," Gilmour said. "If he asks me to do a job then I'll do my best anywhere on the pitch, whether it's in defence or up front. Most of all, I'm just happy to be playing. I know, if I'm not on the ball, I can't be a threat as much as I want to in the game."
The early returns are promising. His pass set up Kieron Bowie, now at Sassuolo, for the opening goal of Pocognoli's reign in Saturday's 2-0 win in North Macedonia. "As a group, you've seen we are aggressive and on the front foot, playing through the lines, and we've created a lot of chances, although we have not took as many as we'd have liked," Gilmour said. "But we're creating chances, the fans are getting excited and us, as players, we enjoy playing it." Pocognoli's own assessment was about function rather than flair: "We try to play the football he also likes because he is really involved in terms of the connection between the defenders and high up the pitch."
The elder statesman who is 25
The biggest Gilmour headline of the week was not about Scotland at all. His old juvenile club, Ardrossan Winton Rovers, named a stand after him as part of a sponsorship deal. That is roughly the right scale for how he carries himself.
He watched Andy Robertson collect a 100th cap in Skopje and called it incredible and amazing, and he has already slid into the role of passing advice down to the younger players Pocognoli keeps adding to the squad. "I was the youngest when I came in," he said. "Steve Clarke brought me in and I can't thank him enough for putting his trust in me." Slovenia manager Bostjan Cesar is aware of what is coming: "Billy Gilmour is a very good player in the Italian top division and he had a really good season, where he was the engine of his team. We will try to match his skill."
Context: Scotland host Slovenia at Hampden Park on Tuesday 6 October 2026 in UEFA Nations League Group B1. Gilmour, 25, is in line for his 50th Scotland cap, having made his debut in 2021. He plays club football for Napoli. Reporting by Clive Lindsay for BBC Sport Scotland.
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