Lewis Ferguson's long-term Scotland plan alongside Billy Gilmour

Lewis Ferguson hopes to form a lasting international midfield partnership with long-standing friend Billy Gilmour.

The pair started a Scotland game together for the fifth time in Saturday’s goalless Nations League draw in Slovenia.

The central midfielders were at the Rangers youth academy together and represented Scotland throughout the age levels and are now both making their mark in Serie A.

Napoli midfielder Gilmour impressed in Ljubljana after missing out on the World Cup with a knee injury.

(left to right) Scotland's Kieron Bowie, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Ferguson and Jack Hendry after the UEFA Nations League, league phase, group B1 match at Stadion Stozice in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Picture date: Saturday September 26, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder. (Image: Andrew Milligan)

“He’s really important,” Ferguson said. “We obviously missed him over the summer.

“He’s a good friend of mine, we’re really close. We’ve got that good relationship on and off the pitch, and we work well with each other.

“It was great to be back alongside him. We’ve played loads of times together, whether that was in the under-21s and in the youth academy as well.

“It was great to have him back. I’ve been so happy to see him being back this season and playing football, which was so important for him after a difficult summer.

“I love playing beside him. I think we work off each other really well, we’ve got two completely different profiles of players there but I think it suits us both, and I think we’ve seen that in the game.”

Ferguson also missed a major tournament, with a serious knee injury ruling him out of Euro 2024.

But the Bologna midfielder has now established himself in the Scotland side and was arguably the team’s success story at the World Cup.

The 27-year-old now hopes he and Gilmour can grow together in the team.

“We’ve both had those setbacks and similar experiences,” the former Hamilton and Aberdeen player said.

“I’ve known Billy since I was nine, 10 years old. So we’ve watched each other grow and played with each other, I think it was 19s, 21s, first team. So it’s a nice story.

“We’ve probably never had that chance to get a run in the team together but it could be that (from now).

“I thought it worked at the weekend. I thought we played pretty well in the middle of the pitch, especially second half, being so dominant.

“So I certainly enjoy playing alongside him and hopefully there’s many more times.”