CHELSEA starlet Billy Gilmour is catching the eye of Real Madrid and Barcelona, say reports in Spain.
A standout performance in the victory over Liverpool in midweek could translate into a first Premier League start for the 18-year-old against Everton on Sunday.
And a number of interested parties will be taking that performance in with Manchester City also linked to the player.
According to El Desmarque, both Real and Barcelona have been tracking Gilmour since he began impressing for Chelsea’s youth teams.
The Scot was a star of the Under-18s side that reached last season’s UEFA Youth League and he has pushed that form into the first-team.
A pair of appearances off the bench in the Premier League under Frank Lampard have been added to by four more matches in the cups.
Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Liverpool saw Gilmour stand out once again and the Blues’ injury crisis could keep the door open.
N’Golo Kante has been unavailable for a number of weeks and he was joined in the treatment room by Mateo Kovacic after the Croat picked up an Achilles’ heel knock.
Furthermore, Jorginho must sit out the next two league games and the Champions League trip to Bayern Munich due to suspension while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marco van Ginkel are long-term absentees.
Chelsea fans’ fears of losing Gilmour will be tempered by the fact he put pen to paper on a new contract only in September, keeping him at Stamford Bridge until 2023.
The club is certainly not short of cash, too, having barely touched the transfer market this campaign.
FIFA’s summer ban on the Blues helped the side pocket a mega £133million of profit as Lampard oversaw a major squad refresh – providing more opportunities for youngsters such as Gilmour in the process.
