Lennon Miller is the BEST young star I've played with says Motherwell team-mate and ex-Rangers star Andy Halliday
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ANDY HALLIDAY knew teenager sidekick Lennon Miller would be a big noise in the game - when he DIDN'T have to shout at him.
Miller was just 17 when he was first thrown into the Motherwell midfield alongside former Rangers star Halliday.
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Lennon Miller is poised to become the latest Scot to move to Serie A
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Andy Halliday is sad to see Miller go
Credit: Kenny Ramsay
The youngster made an instant impact on his new team-mate, so much so that he rarely required any on-field advice.
And Halliday admits he'll miss Miller as the Scotland cap closes on a record-breaking £4.75million switch to Serie A side Udinese.
He told SunSport: 'I will really miss him. I'll miss playing with him because it's always good to play with good players.
'So many people over the last 18 months when I've been a Motherwell player have asked me what Lennon's like.
'He's the best young player I've played with.
'I'm pretty vocal but Lennon is probably one of the only players I've felt as if I don't have to speak to during the game.
'Such is his game intelligence at such a young age - as well as the technical attributes and athleticism.
'With the natural football brain and football IQ he's got, he's got the recipe to be a top, top player.
'He'll do well over there. His preference was playing football and he wanted to know that wherever he was going to go, he was going to play every week.
'He wants to develop and wants to be the best version of himself that he can possibly be.
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'He feels as if he's found a club in Udinese that's a place to grow and develop further.
'If Lennon is playing games, there's no doubt we have a top talent on our hands.
'We have spoken for a while that midfield is an area of strength for Scotland but we now have another who's going to force his way into the team pretty soon.'
Miller flew to Rome on Monday for a medical and is expected to complete his life-changing move in the next 24 hours.
Udinese beat the likes of Ipswich, Torino, USG and Eintracht Frankfurt to the star - who turns 19 in a fortnight.
But Halliday remains perplexed that neither Celtic or Rangers fought hard to keep the kid in Scotland.
He said: 'Look at the development centre that Serie A has been for Scottish players over the last few years - the likes of Aaron Hickey, Josh Doig, Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Ferguson - and see what it's done for their careers.
'Compare it to players who have moved to the Old Firm and their careers probably haven't progressed at the same level as those who have gone Italy.
'There's no doubt Lennon has looked at the path these boys have been on and fancied a bit of that.
'You also have the good weather and a brand of football that Lennon says attracts him. He has had his eye on it pretty early.
'I'm extremely confident Lennon has made the right choice for himself and is going to develop into the player he wants to be.
'But I do find it quite baffling that top clubs in Scotland haven't tried to change his opinion.'
Halliday believes that the youngster possesses the self-belief to succeed in one of Europe's top leagues.
He added: 'A lot of people say you need to drop your ego but I think, for a young player, you need to have an ego.
'You have to know and show that you belong in those environments.
'He is a quiet lad but Lennon is confident in his own ability.
'I have no doubt that at the raw age of 16 he believed he belonged in the first-team.
'Pretty early on, team-mates and fans would have agreed.
'His dad, Lee, would have helped in his development, being in the same environment himself for such a long period of time.
'He has done an unbelievable job of keeping Lennon grounded through the full process of making his debut at 16, captaining the club, getting a Scotland call-up and all the interest from elsewhere.
'Lennon has shown he's the best player at Motherwell.
'If you are young and know you're the best player, sometimes you have to move on and get a tougher challenge. That's what he's going to do.'
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