Billy Gilmour breaks silence on knee injury that ended his World Cup dream

Billy Gilmour has described missing the World Cup through injury as “a tough one to get my head around”, breaking his silence two days after a knee problem ended his tournament before it began.

The 24-year-old Napoli midfielder was ruled out of Steve Clarke’s squad on Sunday evening — the night before Scotland departed for the United States — after sustaining the injury in the first half of Saturday’s 4-1 warm-up victory over Curacao at Hampden Park. His place in the squad was taken by 19-year-old Manchester United midfielder Tyler Fletcher, who made his international debut as a half-time substitute in that match.

“I haven’t got the words to describe how I’m feeling right now,” Gilmour wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “Being so close to a childhood dream of mine, to play in a World Cup, and now it has been taken away from me with an injury. It’s been a tough one to get my head around.”

Gilmour also thanked supporters for their messages since the news broke. “Your support and kind messages over the last few days mean the world to me and haven’t gone unnoticed, so thank you so much. I’ll see you all back doing what I love again soon but until then, let’s get behind the team and cheer them on. Come on Scotland!”

Scotland arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday and held their first training session on American soil on Monday. Clarke’s side will face Bolivia in a friendly in New Jersey on Saturday before moving to their World Cup base in Charlotte.

Scotland have been drawn in Group C alongside Haiti, Morocco, and Brazil. It marks the nation’s first appearance at a World Cup since France 1998, a return that makes Gilmour’s absence all the more painful given the historic nature of the tournament for Scottish football.