Clarke Opts Against Scotland Call-Up for Lennon Miller, Citing Need for Development

Despite an impressive recent run of form, which included captaining his club in a cup semi-final yesterday at just 18 years old, some observers anticipated Lennon Miller might receive his first Scotland call-up today. While he is certainly on Steve Clarke’s radar, the Scotland head coach clarified his choice to permit the teenager “to grow,” rather than including him in the squad for the upcoming fixtures against Croatia and Poland. “It’s good for Lennon, it’s good for his club,” Clarke said. “He’s another young one that everyone wants to hype and push. “It’s important to let young players to grow. Let’s just allow Lennon a little bit of space and time to grow.” Clarke made similar remarks about Ben Doak, 18, not long ago before subsequently selecting him for the Euros squad – which he missed due to injury – and the Nations League campaign, where he earned four caps. “You want to have as many difficult choices as you can, you want to have as many good players as you can, so the more young players coming through the better it is for everybody in Scotland,” Clarke continued. “It’s already been mentioned in one of the reports that came out recently that we don’t produce enough young players, so hopefully we can in the future.” Consequently, Miller will remain with the Scotland Under-19s during the international break, as they prepare for three home European Championship qualifiers against Wales, Liechtenstein, and France.