Italy’s love affair with Scotland is showing no signs of slowing down. Graham Souness rocked up at Sampdoria in 1984 to great fanfare and since then Scots have turned up in Mediterranean Europe on the regular with Lewis Ferguson being the first in what we’d call “modern day” football. Ferguson, so admired, won the Serie A MVP in 2024 and was followed last year by another Scot, literally. McTominay was a revelation last season, shedding the weight of trauma that Manchester United brings to earn himself a Scudetto and Ballon D’Or nomination at the same time.
He did so alongside Ayshire’s own Billy Gilmour in Napoli’s midfield and at the same time last season Che Adams contributed 9 goals and Josh Doig was contributing to Sassuolo’s Serie B title. But there’s a new Scot in town, arriving in Udine on the 12th August with no groundbreaking presentations or crowds rushing to meet him at the airport.
If Lennon Miller makes his debut against Hellas Verona on matchday one, he will have only just blown out the 19 candles on his birthday cake that morning. For such a young player, his career has taken off fairly quickly – and yet you probably don’t know much about him at all…
Lennon was born on 25th August 2006 in Wishaw, Scotland, son of former Scotland striker Lee Miller, he lost his mother at a young age. He joined Motherwell’s academy at age 7 and made his senior debut aged just 16 in a Scottish League Cup match – a club record for youngest player.
In December 2022, Lennon made his first senior league appearance against Rangers and would go on to make 32 appearances in the 2023/24 season. He contributed 8 assists and 2 goals across this season. This was a season during which he suffered a fractured patella and missed three months of action. The fractured patella isn’t the only injury issue Lennon has suffered, last season he also a hairline fracture to his ankle in December 2024.
This came only a month after he became the youngest captain in Motherwell’s history in a League Cup semi final against Rangers. Motherwell took the lead in this game but would go on to lose 2-1. The same season saw Lennon step up from his regular role in Scotland’s youth system to their first team, making his National Team debut against Iceland in June 2025 as a substitute and providing an assist a few days later in his first start against Liechtenstein.
Motherwell fans we spoke to raved about Lennon’s range of passing and his vision – on and off the ball. The dead ball ability of the player and his ability in ground duels is “the best we’ve ever seen at Motherwell”. Lennon can – and has – played as a Defensive Midfielder, a Central Midfielder and an Attacking Midfielder, showing his versatility through the centre of the pitch.
Last season Lennon made the second most forward passes of any Under 19 player in Europe ahead of the likes of Jobe Bellingham, Warren Zaire-Emery and Desire Doue. He also ranked first in Europe for Under 19 players in assists, expected assists and through passes completed as well as second in long passes completed, progressive passes and shot assists.
This is a progressive player, always looking to get forward and create. This sort of aggressive, attacking play will endear him to the locals in Udine. Being accepted by the crowds will help him to settle – always the biggest issue for “Brits Abroad”. The different languages and cultures as well as the style of play often leaves Brits underwhelming in Europe. Something about this doesn’t seem to apply to the Scottish, however, and Udinese fans will hope that Lennon Miller is the next in a long line of success stories.
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