Motherwell starlet Miller is in the Scotland squad for the first time at just 18 years of age
13:16, 18 Mar 2025
Lennon Miller and John McGinn(Image: SNS Group)
John McGinn has no problem with Lennon Miller’s bold claim that he could become Scotland’s best player - because he reckons he should be looking to take HIS place in the coming years.
Motherwell starlet Miller raised eyebrows ahead of joining up with his first senior squad when he said "I'm obviously not going to go in and be the best player there, but I believe I could maybe in a couple of months be the best player there."
Article continues below
Miller and Hearts prodigy James Wilson have been promoted into Steve Clarke’s group at the age of 18. And 73-cap McGinn said: “He was probably thinking, why did I say that? But I said plenty of stupid things when I was coming through at St Mirren.
“At the same time, they're not here to make the numbers up, they're here to take our places if eventually they're better than the ones that are here and we no longer get called up.
“So they need to have that confidence, they need to come here and not just make the numbers up, come here and try and get a starting position and then become a mainstay for years to come.
“He definitely has the ability to do so and so does James. I watch Motherwell pretty regularly and my brother Paul always spoke about him highly.
“But not only that, his mentality, he's a good team-mate, very mature. So obviously I've been really keen to play alongside him and see him this week in training. Even sat at lunch there, he's a quiet guy but desperate to succeed and work hard.”
Vice captain McGinn remembers feeling out of his depth when he first stepped up to the Scotland top team in 2016 as a Championship player with Hibs - thanks in no small part to a jibe from Charlie Adam.
That’s why he’s spent time this week making sure Miller and Wilson feel at home. He said: “I remember Charlie Adam doing an interview from Stoke's training ground asking why there was Scottish Championship players getting called up which wasn't too helpful at the time!
Charlie Adam won 26 caps for Scotland between 2007 and 2015(Image: PA)
“All the experienced boys were getting right on me saying 'look, you shouldn't be in the squad’! I don't think he was meaning it at me personally at the time. Just the timing of it was a bit of a disaster.
“I remember going back to my room and you think to yourself 'I cannae compete at this level'. But as the sessions go on, as you get more experienced, you get more comfortable and you start to express yourself a bit more.
“I'll always be grateful to Gordon Strachan for giving me that opportunity.
“I was always pretty nervous, starstruck but once I got a couple of sessions under my belt I was chatting their ear off.
Article continues below
“I know how it feels but the boys, there's no egos in there, they know how to welcome new team-mates and if they get too confident, too comfortable it's our job as older players to go 'right, no come on, too far'.
“I’ve done that with Ben (Doak) a couple of times but that's his character!
“It's nice, it's obviously really good to see those boys having a big impact in the Scottish Premiership this year and it's good to see.”