Celtic have had a sensational start to the 2024/25 campaign across all competitions and Brendan Rodgers will surely be delighted with how his team have performed.
They are sat at the top of the Scottish Premiership table and have won 14 of their 15 matches in the division, whilst they have also only lost once in five outings in the Champions League.
The Hoops have a League Cup final clash with Rangers at Hampden Park to look forward to on Sunday, when they can lift the first piece of silverware of the season with a win.
Celtic have been fantastic across all competitions, domestically and in Europe, and are competing to improve upon the two trophies won by Rodgers in his first season back at the club last term.
The only negative, and it is only a negative if you perceive it to be important, is the lack of homegrown talent in the squad. No British player or academy product under the age of 26 has played more than one minute in the Premiership for the Hoops this season, with Francis Turley playing one minute.
Celtic, however, could rectify that in January by swooping to sign Motherwell central midfielder Lennon Miller to bolster their options in the middle of the park.
Celtic's interest in Lennon Miller
The Boot Room reported last month that the Scottish giants are one of the teams interested in signing the Scotland U21 international when the January transfer window opens for business.
Rangers and Celtic are both hoping to keep the talented 18-year-old gem in the Premiership ahead of the second half of the season, amid interest from a host of teams from England and Italy.
Bologna, who signed Lewis Ferguson from Aberdeen, and Atalanta are both looking to swoop for the teenage gem, whilst Premier League sides Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Liverpool are among the English teams in the race for his signature.
The report added that Motherwell, however, are looking for a fee in the region of £5m for the young midfielder, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Hoops are willing to shell out that kind of money for his signature.
His performances in the Premiership for his current club suggest that the quality is there for him to come in and be the only Scottish teenager playing regularly for Celtic this season.
Appearances
15
Goals
2
Big chances created
7
Assists
5
Key passes per game
2.0
Tackles + interceptions per game
2.9
As you can see in the table above, Miller has offered a regular threat as a creator in the middle of the park for Motherwell, with 30 key passes in 15 games.
He has coupled that with defensive nous, as shown by his 2.9 tackles and interceptions per game – more than any Celtic midfielder has averaged, and this shows that the 18-year-old has delivered quality all-round performances in the top-flight.
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Whilst Miller appears to be a big talent, given his performances at such a young age, Celtic already lost an even bigger talent in the form of Ben Doak, who had come up through the academy at Parkhead.
How much Celtic lost Ben Doak for
In the summer of 2022, the Scottish teenager opted to move on from Glasgow to sign for Premier League giants Liverpool for a compensation fee of just £600k, as he had not signed a professional contract with the Hoops.
He had come up through the youth ranks with Celtic and eventually made his first-team breakthrough under Ange Postecoglou in the 2021/22 campaign, with 25 minutes across two Premiership matches.
That early exposure, at the age of just 16, was not enough to convince the left-footed sensation that his future was in Scotland, though, and he decided to try his luck down south for Jurgen Klopp.
The teenage whiz made five first-team appearances for Liverpool in the 2022/23 campaign and a further five in the 2023/24 season, despite missing a whopping 43 matches through a meniscus injury.
Doak was then sent out on loan to Middlesbrough in the English Championship by new Liverpool boss Arne Slot this term, and he has thrived for club and country.
Why Ben Doak is a bigger talent than Lennon Miller
Despite being less than a year older than Miller, the Liverpool youngster has already been capped six times by Scotland’s senior team, whilst the Motherwell gem is still awaiting his first cap.
All six of his caps came in the UEFA Nations League and the teenage starlet caught the eye with six key passes, two ‘big chances’ created, one assist, and six completed dribbles, starting four of those matches.
This shows that Doak has emerged as a regular starter, with four starts in six caps, for Scotland at the age of 19, whereas Miller is yet to make the step up from U21 level.
After his showing against Croatia, pundit Ally McCoist claimed he gave Man City star Josko Gvardiol a “going over” and described him as a “fearless” star who is similar to Real Madrid sensation Jude Bellingham, in the sense that both young players play with freedom in their games.
That is not to say that he is as good as Bellingham, who has scored 28 goals in 60 matches for Real, but both players thrive at first-team level at such a young age because they are not afraid to express themselves and their quality on the pitch against more experienced stars.
The Liverpool loanee’s form in the Championship for Middlesbrough, who are fighting for promotion to the Premier League, also shows that he is able to shine domestically.
Appearances
14
xA
3.29
Key passes per game
2.4
Assists
5
Successful dribbles per game
2.1
As you can see in the table above, Doak has averaged more key passes per game and recorded the same number of assists as Miller in fewer league appearances this season.
Whilst it is difficult to compare the two players directly, given Doak is a winger and Miller is a central midfielder, the former Celtic ace’s emergence for club and country suggests that he is the bigger talent of the two of them, and the Hoops lost him for just £600k.
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Unfortunately, there was little that the Bhoys could have done to prevent him from chasing his dreams at Anfield, and his development since moving to England suggests that he made the right decision.