Stuart Kettlewell believes Lennon Miller will still be at Motherwell next season unless clubs circling the Fir Park ace get serious with their offers.
The Scotland U-21 star has 18 months left on his contract and Kettlewell confirmed a “very significant” bid for the player had been rejected. But, echoing Well chief executive Brian Caldwell, the manager insists the offers so far have not been anywhere near their valuation of the 18-year-old midfielder.
Serie A side Udinese have failed with a £2.5m move for Miller while Bundesliga giants Eintracht Frankfurt are also monitoring his situation. Both sides of the Old Firm have long been admirers of the player who is currently nursing a fractured ankle, while Southampton are also keen.
But as things stand Kettlewell thinks the player will still be with Motherwell next season. He said: “I do, yeah, I do. What Brian said probably summed the whole thing up – the bid that came in is significant, very significant, and the couple of bids that have come in are significant in Scottish football terms.
“But they don’t meet our valuation of the player and I think that there’s a clear understanding in that. So until somebody gets close to that then of course I believe he’s going to be here. Any bid that’s ever come in for any player here I’m well up to speed with.
“I will be the first person to know and that’s the way I always like it so I understand what’s going on. I’m up to speed with what clubs come here on a weekly basis to watch our players, a particular player, something I always try and keep on top of.
“When the big names and the big clubs are coming to watch a player then there can be that excitement. But again we don’t get carried away with that in the slightest.
“We understand that there’s going to be top, top clubs looking at Lennon Miller. We’ve known that for a long, long time, but it needs to be right for Lennon, it needs to be right for the football club and at this point we’re nowhere near that valuation.”
Meanwhile, Kettlewell suspects he could be becoming a target for officials after picking up his eighth booking of the season in Saturday’s Scottish Cup defeat to St Johnstone. The Well boss has already served two touchline bans this season and said: “Potentially. I can’t answer that question.
“I just think that it seems a little bit, I don’t know, in comparison to other managers in the division who’s had what yellow cards and who does what… we all do the job in a different way. I specifically tried not to speak to the fourth official on Saturday until the point where you see an injustice which again is a simple foul that can be given.
“You can see the player being pulled back, you don’t get it. Momentum changers in games, as I keep saying to officials.
“There was a little bit of frustration from me but when somebody starts screaming at you and shouting at you in the fashion that he did then I’m going to do the same back. I’m going to start to get pretty angry. That’s sometimes how it goes. But I’ve seen situations where I feel that that’s slightly different towards certain individuals.”
Kettlewell added: “You’ll look at certain games where there’s certain people as fourth officials and you’ll never see me getting a yellow card because they can have a proper conversation with you. They’ll ask you to calm down if they feel you’ve went over the top a wee bit. They don’t start radioing through to referees to make sure they come over and yellow card the manager.
“I just think they’ve got that wee bit about them where they understand the situation. So for me it all comes down to those people skills and that understanding. Sometimes some, for me, completely overreact and some are right on point.”