Gilmour ruled out of World Cup - could Man Utd's Fletcher replace him?

Image source, SNS Image caption, Injured Billy Gilmour was withdrawn by Scotland head coach Steve Clarke after 42 minutes By Andy Campbell BBC Sport Scotland Published 30 May 2026, 15:53 BST Updated 1 hour ago Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour has been ruled out of the World Cup after picking up a knee injury during Saturday's 4-1 friendly win over Curacao. The Scottish FA confirmed the 24-year-old Napoli player would not take part in the finals, saying: "We're all with you, Billy." And Napoli and Scotland team-mate Scott McTominay wrote on Instagram: "Absolutely devasted for you brother, football is a cruel game and you don't deserve this, keep your head up. The players, staff and country love you." Gilmour, who was planning to attend a family wedding later on Saturday, started at Hampden but was withdrawn after pulling up in pain. His replacement, Findlay Curtis, scored Scotland's first-half leveller before Lawrence Shankland's double after the break and a late Ryan Christie penalty. Head coach Steve Clarke said post-match he was "100% worried" about Gilmour. "One request was obviously no injuries," Clarke said. "He hurt himself in the tackle and then he made the decision he had to come off, so that tells you that he himself knew it wasn't right." The Scotland squad are scheduled to fly to the United States on Sunday. To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, Clarke '100% worried' about Gilmour injury Is Man Utd's Fletcher possible replacement? Midfielder Tyler Fletcher was given his Scotland debut as a half-time substitute and Clarke confirmed the 19-year-old was one possible replacement for Gilmour. The Manchester United player - son of former Scotland captain Darren - is one of four youngsters that have trained with the squad this week. None of those are part of the squad for the World Cup matches against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil, and neither are Rangers' Connor Barron, Andy Irving of Sparta Prague and Udinese's Lennon Milller, who Clarke also named-checked. "Those three are on standby and obviously Tyler joined us this week," he said. "He's trained well this week, so he's a little bit closer than the other three, but I'd need to have a big discussion with my staff and decide the best way to go." Fletcher - whose twin Jack plays age-grade football for England - made his senior debut for his father's former club in February and also came on in the final game of the season against Brighton. Image source, SNS Image caption, Tyler Fletcher made his senior international debut after playing twice for Manchester United this season Former Scotland winger Neil McCann put it to Clarke on BBC One Scotland that he looked "really accomplished" in a holding role. Clarke responded: "Everybody was impressed - the players were impressed, the coaching staff were impressed, I had no doubts. "I actually thought about putting him on as Billy came off but I just thought I'd have a little look,