Mateo Kovacic never doubted Billy Gilmour would go to the top – but he reckons he still has further to climb in his career.
The duo spent three years together at Stamford Bridge after Gilmour broke through as a teenager before the Scot flew the nest to Brighton in 2022. Gilmour is now tearing it up in the Napoli midfield at the top of Serie A beside Scots team mate Scott McTominay having moved to Italy in the summer.
And Manchester City midfielder Kovacic, who spent two years in Italy with Inter Milan a decade ago, said: “I’m not surprised. From the first day I saw him he had a really high quality. He was better than the other young players, he wants to learn, he’s a big talent and I’m sure he will have a big career.
“It’s already really good but I expect him to improve even more. We haven’t been in touch before this game but we were over text messages before the Zagreb game.
“I like to watch football in general so I watch a lot of games including Napoli. He’s really developed over the last few years and he still has room for further development so I’m looking forward to seeing him tomorrow and playing against him.”
Kovacic will win his 107th cap should he feature tonight. And if he does he expects a tough game against some familiar Premier League faces. He said: “Scotland is such a strong team and they fight for each other. It’s always difficult against John McGinn. He’s a tough, strong player who’s playing very well for Aston Villa. He’s back, he didn’t play in Zagreb and I think he will make Scotland better.”
The 30-year-old is enduring a torrid time at Manchester City who have lost their last four games. And asked if this break is a good distraction he said: “We’ll see. If we win I’ll feel better. As for the club it’s not ideal but that happens over the season. Probably this break is good, for us to have our minds on something else, then when we come back from the break we can start to try to win again.”
Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic revealed PAOK goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski will start in place of suspended Dominik Livakovic. Dalic said: “We have three goalkeepers along with Livaković who have been with us in the Nations League. I listened to the suggestions of the goalkeeping coaches. Kotarski is playing well for his club and is playing in Europe. He’s in good shape. All three would be good choices but we have decided to go with Kotarski.”