Steven Gerrard distances Rangers from Billy Gilmour links
Steven Gerrard full of praise for Chelsea's ex-Rangers youth player Billy Gilmour but downplayed reports linking player with Ibrox return; Dundee United vs Rangers is live on Sky Sports Football from 11am on Sunday; kick-off is 12pm
Friday 11 December 2020 11:37, UK
Steven Gerrard has distanced Rangers from reports linking them with a January move for Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour.
The 19-year-old, who played the full 90 minutes during Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Krasnodar on Tuesday, started his career at Rangers before moving to Stamford Bridge in 2017 for an initial fee believed to be in the region of £500,000.
Gilmour also impressed towards the end of last season but Gerrard - who described the diminutive midfielder as a "fabulous little player" - says any talk of an Ibrox return on loan is premature.
"There's always a lot of paper talk, there's always a lot of speculation about a lot of players," Gerrard said.
"From what I see from afar, I think Billy Gilmour is pretty settled at Chelsea. He has obviously had an injury. Every time I listen to Frank (Lampard) he's really happy with the player.
Live SPFL
"He's a fabulous little player but there's been no contact between the clubs or the managers. I know Frank extremely well, I know his coaching staff extremely well, I think that's just people putting two and two together and looking for stories.
"There's nothing in it from our side, but what I will say is he is a fabulous little player and we wish him well."
Gerrard was talking ahead of Rangers' trip to Dundee United on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, where the Scottish Premiership leaders will look to continue their unbeaten start.
Rangers will go to Tannadice in good spirits, fresh from a 2-0 victory over Lech Poznan on Thursday that saw the Glasgow giants top their Europa League group.
But the same seamless preparations cannot be said for Dundee United who have been hit by a spate of positive coronavirus tests.
Nine first-team players and their entire coaching staff, including boss Micky Mellon, missed last weekend's defeat to Livingston.
However, Gerrard is still expecting a tough assignment for his Rangers side, with Dundee United also expected to welcome Mellon back to the dugout on Sunday.
Gerrard said: "Obviously there's some rivalry there, we expect a bit of needle in the game which we welcome.
"Micky Mellon is an experienced manager, he's been around for a long time. He's a good manager and I think he's come in and done ever so well at Dundee United.
"We expect him to have his team well drilled, they will be competitive and they have got good players, so we are expecting a real tough challenge."
