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Billy Gilmour was not on the plane to Istanbul with the rest of the Chelsea squad on Monday, and he was not on the initial list of players communicated by the club. And there was good reason for that: he was with the Development Squad in Derby, playing a PL2 match against Derby County’s reserves (and winning 1-0).
But by Tuesday, young Billy, who served notice of his budding stardom in preseason, was very much with the team in training, as the Blues got ready to face Liverpool in Wednesday night’s UEFA Super Duper Cup dance-off. With the teams allowed to name up to 12 substitutes, the 18-year-old is set to be included, even if he’s unlikely to play.
Billy Gilmour name was missing on the Chelsea app list as he didn’t fly with the squad. They set off at 6:30pm. He played a Development match till 9pm yesterday. The team was already in Turkey before he flew out. Late call up as Bakayoko is set to leave on loan #CFC
— CarefreeYouth (@CarefreeYouth) August 13, 2019
Conspicious by its absence, the only surprise absentee is midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko (whose place Gilmour is ostensibly taking). Bakayoko looks set to leave, probably on loan, before the end of the month.
The full 24-man squad, as confirmed by the Chelsea website, is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS: Arrizabalaga, Caballero, Cumming
DEFENDERS: Alonso, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Emerson, Rudiger, Tomori, Zappacosta, Zouma
MIDFIELDERS: Barkley, Gilmour, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Mount
FORWARDS: Abraham, Batshuayi, Giroud, Kenedy, Pedro, Pulisic, Willian