Motherwell ace Lennon Miller has the world at his feet as the whole of Scotland gets set to watch his next move with anticipation.
Already a star player and having captained the club at 18, the precocious talent has been linked with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and United and Arsenal as he draws admiring glances from around Europe.
Miller is currently injured which could have put clubs off from making a bid in January but that hasn’t been the case with Udinese submitting two offers, the latter for £2.5million.
But that still wasn’t enough for the Steelmen who are holding out for a record fee and closer to £4m, eclipsing the £3m brought in for the sale of David Turnbull to Celtic.
Stuart Kettlewell revealed there was a plan for Miller as they looked to stand firm amid all of the interest.
But Kettlewell has since left Motherwell, citing fan abuse as the reason for driving him out.
Whether or not that affects what happens with the teenager remains to be seen, but he will continue to attract interest.
Motherwell star Miller ranks as one of world’s best
His ability has clearly already been recognised by some of the word’s biggest clubs, in England and further afield.
The reasons why are clear to see from the eye test, a classy midfielder who has it all in terms of attributes and can play all sorts of different roles in the middle of the pitch.
But exactly why such big clubs are so keen may be coming to light.
That’s because Tam Cowan has revealed that, according to the data, Miller ranks in the top seven in world football for his age.
“I don’t think for a minute he’s going to remain in Scotland, but then that other wee nugget that came out this week that, statistically, they’ve got all the data and the sport science and all that, guys on their laptops at every ground,” said Cowan, speaking on Off the Ball.
“He’s apparently in the top seven in the world of players in his age in that position, when you throw all the stats into the machine.”
What the stats say about Miller
Miller sits at the top of the assists chart in the Premiership with six, level with Aberdeen’s Jamie McGrath and Celtic’s Nicolas Kuhn. That’s despite the 18-year-old having missed the last few weeks.
With eight big chances created, that places him third in the Premiership behind only Alistair Johnston of Celtic and Hearts‘ James Penrice, according to Fot Mob.
For chances created he is tenth in the division with 33.
Miller is an all-rounder, in the top 19 percentile compared to other Premiership midfielders for aerial duels won and the top six per cent for successful passes.
No-one in the league ranks better for accurate long balls, while he is again in the top six per cent for successful crosses.
The defensive stars are just as impressive as he is top for tackles won, interceptions and recoveries.
Now, clubs worldwide will have access to far more in-depth stats than this but it is all an indicator of just how important he is at such a young age.