Charlie Nicholas lays into Billy Gilmour and insists Chelsea midfielder is on course to 'becoming the next Barry Bannan'

The former Rangers kid burst onto the international scene a year ago when he was selected for Steve Clarke's Euro 2020 squad.

Gilmour starred against England at Wembley and he has been an ever-present in the Scots midfield since.

Nicholas has not been impressed though, and he believes that the 20-year-old "could end up becoming the next Barry Bannan".

He wrote in the Scottish Daily Express: "Billy Gilmour is a talented player but if he is not careful he could end up becoming the next Barry Bannan.

"Gilmour is a tidy footballer but he has to offer more and we need to stop making him out to be our saviour. He struggled in the play-off because he didn't get on the ball enough - and when he did it was square pass, square pass.

"Let's hope he can make a greater impact than Bannan - another physically small midfelder who did OK for a few seasons but failed to hit the heights everyone hoped."

Nicholas also criticised Steve Clarke's team selection for Scotland's defeat against Ukraine in the World Cup play-off semi-final.

He continued: "Clarke made mistakes in terms of selection and the set-up and he needs to shoulder that responsibility.

"The players also have to take their share of the blame because they didn't perform on the night. There's no way

"Clarke would have instructed them to keep playing back to front and missing out the midfield.

"Between them they got it all wrong and we were well beaten.

"Aaron Hickey might have a decent right foot but he rarely plays at right wing-back and putting him in there was the wrong call.

"That wasn't the first time Clarke has started a player on his weaker side.

"He did the same with Kieran Tierney early in his Scotland reign and that didn't work either.

"Why couldn't he have played Stuart Armstrong or Ryan Christie at right wing-back?

"With his starting line-up, Clarke handed the initiative to Ukraine before a ball was even kicked."