Former Arsenal Youngster Charlie Gilmour SIgns For Saints

Monday 1st February 2021

St. Johnstone has completed the signing of midfielder Charlie Gilmour until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old has played previously for Premier League giants Arsenal in the Europa League and last season spent time on loan at Dutch side Telstar while at Norwich City.

Brighton-born Gilmour has a Scottish father and grandparents and has featured for Scotland at U15, U16, U17 and U19 level.

The attraction of coming to a club in Scotland's top flight was an attraction for the midfielder, alongside the opportunity to play under Saints boss, Callum Davidson.

After joining the club, Charlie said:

"I'm delighted to sign for St. Johnstone and I'm just excited to get started and get back into a routine.

"It's an opportunity to play in a good league and obviously with my connection to Scotland being half-Scottish makes it an exciting move for me personally.

"It's exciting as a player to come to St. Johnstone. The club has been getting great results recently to move up the table and obviously there's a cup final to come.

"I've loved being around Callum Davidson. He's a good man-manager and he always speaks to you. He's always welcoming, always encouraging. I feel like he can get the best out of me.

"The manager's a former international who's played at the top level in both Scotland and England so he's someone that's been there and done it and I'm ready to take on board his advice and the coaching team and become a better player.

"I just want to keep working hard in training every day and improving and I can already tell I have improved since I've been here.

"Coming in I only knew Glenn Middleton from the youth setup with Scotland so it's good to have a familiar face. But I feel like I'm a character who gets on well with anyone anyway.

"I'm a defensive midfielder and try to just do my best and work hard every day as much as I can. I like to have the ball and keep the ball, and I just want to do it in St. Johnstone colours."

The new signing comes to McDiarmid Park after learning his footballing trade at Arsenal under Unai Emery.

"I was at Arsenal during the Emery days. I would be training with the first team quite frequently and made two substitute appearances in Europe against Qarabağ from Khazikstan and Vorskla from Ukraine.

"Obviously Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world, so as a footballer I'm grateful to have that background and to have had that opportunity to play alongside the likes of [Mesut] Özil and [Alexandre] Lacazette to see what they do first hand and why they're playing at the top level.

"St. Johnstone is the next chapter in my career. I'm excited to be here, my family is excited to have me playing in Scotland - particularly my nan and grandad who still live in Scotland.

"I'm looking forward to be being around the first team every day and to show what I can do.

"I just want to progress and be the best person I can be on and off the pitch and see where that takes me."