SPFL chairman eager to keep highly-rated starlet 'as long as possible' amid Celtic and Rangers links

As one of the hottest young prospects in Scottish football, speculation is already surrounding the future of Lennon Miller ahead the upcoming January transfer window.

The 18-year-old midfielder has made more than 50 appearances for Motherwell since making his debut just over two years ago, and even captained the side for the first time in the recent Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers at Hampden.

His standout performances led to calls for him to be included in the senior Scotland squad for the Nations League fixtures against Croatia and Poland, forcing head coach Steve Clarke to defend his decision to leave him out. "He’s another young one that everybody wants to hype and push,” Clarke said. “It’s important to let young players grow. Let’s just allow Lennon a little bit of time and space to grow up at Motherwell." Miller has instead being selected in the Scotland Under-19s squad for three Euros qualifiers against Wales, Liechtenstein and France which take place over the next week.

Lennon Miller during a Scotland under-19 training session at the Stepps Playing Fields this week. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group) | SNS Group / SFA

Motherwell undoubtedly face a battle to hold onto their precocious talent but new chairman Kyrk Macmillan wants to keep him at Fir Park for “as long as possible”. Miller is under contract with the Lanarkshire club until 2026 but has been linked with Celtic and Rangers after emerging as one of the most highly-rated young talents in Scotland.

“Lennon’s done incredibly well since he came into the first team, obviously he’s now captain of the club over the last couple of matches, did it at Hampden as well for the semi-final,” Macmillan, who was appointed Well chairman earlier this month, told Sky Sports.

“I think ultimately it’s about Lennon’s growth journey and we want him to stay at Motherwell as long as possible. It’s great watching him every Saturday, he gets supporters excited and people are really excited to engage with him and his journey in football.

“There may come a time where Lennon decides, ‘I want to try something new in another environment’, but ultimately we want to make his time at Motherwell as successful as it can be. That is who we are as a football club and that will be the same for Lennon as it will be, hopefully, for other players in the future as well.”

Macmillan acknowledges Motherwell will likely have to cash in on Miller at some point. “It is our model, ultimately,” he said. “The club’s been successful with that in the past in terms of moving on younger players and being able to bring strong revenue to the football club. There’s no confirmed conversations as yet, but we’ll see what happens and we’ll take the appropriate kind of conversations at that time.”