Nacho Novo wants Motherwell wonderkid Lennon Miller to snub Celtic for Rangers IF he’s given the choice between the two – just as he did 20 years ago.
The Spaniard had the option of both sides of the Old Firm divide when Dundee accepted bids from the Glasgow giants and he opted for the blue half, a decision he described as the best of his career.
Novo won six major honours and reached the UEFA Cup final during six years in Govan before returning to his native Spain with Sporting Dijon. The striker played for Carlisle later in his career and it was there he played alongside Lee Miller, dad of Lennon who is hot property. He was recently scouted by a host of English Premier League clubs while on Scotland youth international duty and champions Celtic and Rangers have been linked.
The 45-year-old, though, speaking to gambling.com, knows where he wants the teenager to go. He said: “It’s a difficult one. He’s a very talented player, but I don’t know if he [Lennon Miller] will decide to go to Rangers or Celtic. It depends on how much he’s going to play at Celtic, and how much he’s going to play at Rangers.
“Maybe he will play more games for Rangers because they need quality and fresh legs. I played with his dad at Carlisle United, and he was a good striker. I would love it if Rangers signed him, because he’s very good and very mature for his age. He’s only 18 but he looks as if he’s an experienced player. He can only get better and better.”
Rangers need to strengthen as they sit nine points adrift if both Celtic and Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership table and that has increased the pressure on Philippe Clement ahead of Saturday’s visit of Dundee United to Ibrox.
Novo said: “I hope Philippe Clement can turn Rangers’ season around. It’s very tough. At the moment he’s the manager and we need to support him.
“Hopefully he’s going to change something. If he leaves, then who are they going to bring? That’s another question. It needs to be the right person. At the moment he’s the club’s manager and we need to respect that. Hopefully, something will change.
“It’s a very tough situation at the moment. But hopefully the boys come back from their week off and changes start happening soon. Rangers had won two games in a row before the international break, it could have been better just to keep playing. But sometimes a reset is not a bad thing, and hopefully they come back stronger. It’s still early in the season and we [Rangers] need to improve a lot of things.”
Striker Cyriel Dessers has come in for some flak during his time at Ibrox and Novo said: “Dessers is a good player. Ally McCoist used to tell me all the time after I’d missed a chance, that you only need to worry [as a striker] when you are not creating any chances. As long as you’re getting in areas and you create chances – even if you miss. But at the same time, a lot of football works on confidence. He needs to have a little bit more support and for more people to go forward to help him.”