Lennon Miller told to demand Rangers loan exit back to Motherwell after summer transfer
Peter Martin has told Lennon Miller to shun a move to Rangers or Celtic in the summer after transfer talk started up around the midfielder.
The PLZ Soccer journalist wrote for the outlet’s website on 27 February that Motherwell is a “great club” for the teenager to develop into “our next superstar”, and that he should push to be loaned straight back to Fir Park if an Ibrox or Parkhead deal is done at the end of the season.
The 17-year-old caught the eye with his assist for Blair Spittal against the Hoops on Sunday (25 February), prompting Charlie Mulgrew and James McFadden to clash over his future on Sky Sports, but Martin is convinced he needs to stay put and play rather than sit on the bench on either side of the Old Firm.
Martin wrote: “Lennon Miller, stay where you are, develop your skills, your game awareness and experience of playing regular top flight football.
“If say, Celtic or Rangers came calling in the summer, get your agent to hatch a deal that loans you back to Motherwell for the whole of next season…
“You are the best player in the team at 17, what will you be like at 18 heading to 19 years of age with seventy games under your belt?”
He admitted: “Yes, it’s a gamble, but I’d hate to see you warming the bench in one half of Glasgow, blue or green or anywhere else for that matter.
“I can hear many footballers and agents shouting out, get the move now. You are better on five or ten thousand a week at a big club than a few hundred at Motherwell.”
Lennon Miller told to shun Rangers and Celtic transfer options
Much as the youngster looks like he could become a player that Philippe Clement would love to have it is arguably too early for him to expect to start regularly at Ibrox.
If the Belgian did have designs on adding the Scot to his midfield then Martin’s suggestion to send him back to Fir Park on loan for the year might actually be the most sensible idea all round in the short term.
The threat of a possible switch to the other side of Glasgow is ever-apparent in such circumstances, but with English sides increasingly turning to British-based prospects since Brexit the chance of any Scottish side landing him might evaporate if he impresses too much too quickly and he could follow the likes of Billy Gilmour to the Premier League at a young age.
Rangers are injecting youth into the squad around an experienced core, with the likes of Mohamed Diomande (22), Oscar Cortes (20) and Ridvan Yilmaz (22) all now key.
So if Ryan Jack doesn’t get his contract extended and agreement can’t be reached with John Lundstram it wouldn’t be a huge shock to learn the Light Blues were after Miller.
In other Rangers news, a BBC pundit was given “horrible” flashbacks by what he saw at Ibrox.
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