Barry Ferguson talks up former Rangers prospect Billy Gilmour

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The former Rangers captain believes the former Ibrox youngster is heading to the top.

Rangers legend Barry Ferguson believes former Ibrox starlet Billy Gilmour is ‘something special’ and heading to the top of the game, writing in his regular Daily Record column.

The teenage midfielder is a product of the Gers’ academy system, emerging as an exciting talent in the club’s U20s side a few years ago.

However, before getting the chance to make his first-team debut at the club, he decided to make the switch to Chelsea, where he continues to progress and earn a reputation as quite a talent.

Now 18 and working under legendary midfielder Frank Lampard, he is on the verge of getting plenty of opportunities in the senior first-team.

Last week he made his first start for the club in the English League Cup, helping his side to a 7-1 win.

Ferguson is excited about his potential, believing he could be one of the best players produced in Scotland for a generations.

As quoted by The Daily Record, he said: “There’s something special about Billy Gilmour. Something very different from the rest.

“I started hearing those noises about four or five years ago when he was coming through the ranks at Rangers and I went out of my way to dig around and find out as much about this boy as I could.

“So I was really excited when I saw he made his first start for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time now because I am absolutely convinced this kid is going all the way to the top.

“I truly believe we’ll be building our national team around this boy for many, many years to cone. To put it simply, we haven’t produced a player like this in decades.”

Will Rangers have regrets?

Obviously it now appears that Rangers would have been better off keeping the youngster in Glasgow and nurturing his talent at Auchenhowie.

However, it was clear he wanted a move to the big league, so what more could have been done?

Chelsea gave him a huge opportunity at the right time in his young career and it certainly doesn’t seem to have hindered his emergence as an exciting talent.

Just like Andy Robertson and Celtic, he could very well be the one that got away.

All Rangers can do is focus on the present and continue to educate and train the youngster they have on their books currently.

They’ll be hoping that if another unique talent emerges in the future, they now have the infrastructure and personnel in place to convince them their future is best served in Scotland.