Lennon Miller's Journey from Liverpool to Udinese: A New Beginning

Liverpool felt a long way from Boston and Miami that night on the Mersey.

Three thousand, one hundred and ninety-six miles separate Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium from the home of the New England Patriots, the arena that staged Scotland’s World Cup opener against Haiti in June. For Lennon Miller, that distance wasn’t just geography. It was the gap between where he stood and where he thought he was heading.

On 31 March, in the chill on the riverbank, the future was starting to take shape. Miller had been brought into Steve Clarke’s squad for the friendlies against Japan at Hampden and Ivory Coast. Supporters wanted to see him unleashed, to see what the Udinese midfielder could bring. He did not play a single minute.

The image that lingered came after the final whistle in Liverpool: Miller on the touchline, his dad Lee – a former Scotland striker – wrapping an arm around him, offering quiet consolation. It felt like a scene. It turned out to be a warning.

Clarke’s final act in charge only deepened the blow. For the World Cup farewell against Curacao, the outgoing head coach called up uncapped Manchester United teenager Tyler Fletcher instead of the former PFA Young Player of the Year. Miller stayed at home. He then stayed at home again when the World Cup squad was named.

“It was really difficult. It was a difficult summer. There’s no getting away from it,” Lee said. “As a family, we had to get round about him.

“He’s been in the game long enough. Obviously, as a player, he’s been in the game a few years.

“But with myself being in the game, just a few words of wisdom and encouragement. And, listen, it wasn’t to be for him. Obviously somebody wasn’t meant to go to the World Cup for whatever reason.

“But he just needs to get on with things and knuckle down and work hard.”

So he did.

Clarke has gone. The era that bypassed Miller is over. In its place stands Sebastien Pocognoli, charged with injecting the change the Tartan Army have been shouting for.

And with change has come a door opening.

The Belgian’s first squad for the Nations League double header looks different. Younger. Sharper at the edges. Right in the middle of that new look is a familiar name: Lennon Miller, back in the fold at 20 and with a harder edge from a year in Serie A.

Now in his second season with Udinese, Miller is no longer the wide-eyed kid who left Motherwell. He is starting to look like a regular. He has featured in all five of I Bianconeri’s league games so far, earning a place in the starting XI for the past two.

Cup nights have brought more responsibility. He played the full 90 minutes in the Italy Cup win over Venezia earlier this month and featured heavily in both of Udinese’s victories in that competition. The club have trusted him. He has responded.

It has been a steep climb. It always was going to be. This is a player who was thrown into Motherwell’s first team six days after his 16th birthday. Italy, with its tactical demands, its scrutiny, its different rhythm of life, represented a different kind of test.

Lee, who will be pulling on his boots again for Aberdeen at the Tennent’s Sixes tournament next month, has watched his son adapt from afar.

“It’s great to see him back in. And the manager had a nice Facetime with him the day before the squad was announced,” he said. “So real positive on the front foot.

“The first season [in Italy is] obviously to try and find his feet, bed in a little bit. This season, he’s had more minutes already. So it’s been really good.

“If anything, he’s developing every single day over there. It’s a totally different regime, totally different set up, lifestyle. Everything about it has been excellent.

“So he just needs to continue doing what he’s doing there. And hopefully take it in the Scotland squad.”

From a cold night in Liverpool to a fresh start under Pocognoli, Miller’s route back has not been straight. It rarely is at this level. The question now is simple: with the door finally open, how far can he push it?