Motherwell eager to keep highly-rated Lennon Miller for as long as possible

New Motherwell chairman Kyrk Macmillan wants to keep Lennon Miller at Fir Park for “as long as possible” amid speculation about the burgeoning teenager’s future.

The 18-year-old midfielder is under contract with the Lanarkshire club until 2026 but has been linked with Celtic and Rangers after emerging as one of the standout young talents in Scotland.

Miller has already made more than 50 appearances for the Steelmen since his debut just over two years ago and Macmillan is hopeful that number will rise considerably before he moves on.

“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.”