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By ALASDAIR MACKENZIE Published: 16: 00 AEST, 24 August 2025 | Updated: 16: 00 AEST, 24 August 2025 View comments This is all starting to feel rather familiar. Another year, another Scottish player in Italy. Lennon Miller’s move to Udinese took the tally of Scots currently gracing Serie A up to an all-time high of six. It seems the Italians have an appetite for Scottish produce. With Liam Henderson also swapping Empoli for Sampdoria this summer, 11 different Italian clubs have now had Scots on their books over the last seven years. It’s a remarkable number considering only three male Scottish players had graced the Italian game before then — and none since a moustachioed Graeme Souness in the mid-1980s. Given last season’s champions Napoli had two in their ranks — league MVP Scott Mc Tominay and Billy Gilmour — and Coppa Italia winners Bologna had a Caledonian captain in Lewis Ferguson, the trend seems unlikely to slow down. That said, there was something different about Miller’s move to the north-eastern corner in Friuli, a stone’s throw from the Slovenian border. Just look at the way he was introduced. Bruno Fernandes first came to prominence as an attacking midfielder with Udinese in Serie A Miller has become the latest Scot to head for Italy after swapping Motherwell for Udinese Alexis Sanchez made his name in Udine before moving on to Barcelona, Arsenal and beyond Udinese’s official announcement hailed the 18-year-old as ‘one of the brightest talents in Europe’, a player who will be an ‘important signing for the present and the future’ after he ‘attracted interest from prestigious clubs all over Europe’. They were showing him off. It’s understandable. Although Miller, who has penned a five-year deal in Udine, isn’t the first young Scot to arrive directly from the Scottish Premiership — Aaron Hickey, Josh Doig, Henderson and Ferguson were all between 18 and 22 when they arrived — none of those players generated quite the level of hype or expectation that Miller has. Perhaps that is simply a symptom of Miller’s undoubted potential as a newly capped senior Scotland international. But it also speaks to a change of attitude in Italy towards Scottish-based players, an ever-growing belief that the domestic game in Scotland is a quarry bursting with gems ready to polish. Udinese coach Kosta Runjaic hasn’t tried to downplay the buzz either, calling Miller an ‘extraordinary talent’. ‘I’ve already seen in his first few training sessions that he has great quality, but he will have to adapt, ’ the German added. Udinese coach Kosta Runjaic has been impressed by Miller in training since his arrival Gianluca Nani, Udinese’s technical director, wasn’t in a cautious mood either when discussing three of the club’s young midfielders: Miller, Arthur Atta and 16-year-old summer recruit Abdoulaye Camara. ‘They are three very young midfielders with bright futures ahead of them, and we had the good fortune to sign them ahead of some big clubs, ’ Nani stated. ‘They are going to dazzle. ’ Udinese’s delight with their deal for a Motherwell teenager who is little-known in Italy stems from recent history. Although Henderson’s journeyman Italian career kickstarted the trend in 2018, it was Hickey’s time at Bologna that alerted wider attention to the Scottish market as a potential goldmine for Serie A clubs. Not only did the full-back make an impressive impact in Serie A, earning a Golden Boy nomination and scoring five goals in his second season, but his capture proved hugely lucrative for Bologna. After just two years in Italy, Hickey was sold for ten times the fee Bologna had paid Hearts for him when he joined Brentford for £17 million in 2022. Aaron Hickey was the Scottish success story who sparked a sudden interest in tartan talent Scott Mc Tominay and Billy Gilmour combined to lead Napoli to a famous Scudetto success It wasn’t a huge surprise, then, to see Hellas Verona invest in a full-back from the other side of Edinburgh that same summer, Hibernian’s Doig. After 18 months, he was sold to Sassuolo for a reported €6. 5m (£5. 6m) — almost twice the £3m he had cost the Gialloblu. Bologna then returned to the Scottish market for £3m man Ferguson. He has been a revelation at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, winning Serie A Midfielder of the Year in 2023/24 as the Rossoblu qualified for the Champions League before skippering the club to their first trophy in 51 years last season. Respected internet resource Transfermarkt now values him at €28m (£24m). Marco Di Vaio, Bologna’s sporting director, told The Athletic that the Hickey and Ferguson deals were ‘great for us’. ‘We were able to get players with great mentalities and work ethics. They give 100 per cent every day. They’ve got quality. They were two very positive surprises, ’ he added. Udinese will hope to be the next benefactors of this burgeoning belief in Scottish talent, and could yet add another to their ranks before the window shuts after reportedly setting their sights on Bristol City’s Ross Mc Crorie. Sporting director Gokhan Inler was asked about the widely reported interest before the UEFA Super Cup held in Udine last week and didn’t deny it. Instead, he refused to give ‘specific details’ and insisted ‘there isn’t just one name’. Lennon Miller was named PFA Scotland's Young Player of the Year for the season just past With Robins boss Gerhard Struber saying recently he would ‘never let (Mc Crorie) go’, only time will tell how Udinese’s bid to follow Napoli’s example by doubling their Scottish quota plays out. But what of the club Miller has joined? The first question many Scots will want answered is how likely the teenager is to get regular games once Serie A kicks off this weekend, with Monday’s Coppa Italia win over Carrarese coming too soon for the teenager. Under German boss Runjaic, pragmatic football is to be expected. The 54-year-old former insurance salesman was one of the low-key success stories of last season, coming in from a spell in Poland as a relative unknown and leading Udinese to a comfortable mid-table finish. Using a hybrid system alternating between 3-5-2 and 4-4-2, he took his side to the dizzying heights of first place by week four, and their subsequent slide to 12th was no disaster. In fact, it marked this resolutely mid-table club’s joint-highest finish since 2012/13. Jesper Karlstrom, Sandi Lovric, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Atta are at the top of the midfield pecking order, with Miller and fellow summer signing Jakub Piotrowski coming in to provide competition. French youngster Arthur Atta is another midfielder Udinese have high hopes for this season It is further forward where concerns lie days out from the season opener at home to Verona. The strike partnership of Lorenzo Lucca and Florian Thauvin scored 20 of Udinese’s 41 league goals last season but both were sold this summer and are yet to be replaced, with much hope currently resting on former Aston Villa striker Keinan Davis. When it comes to recruitment, though, Udinese have a serious track record. Despite the club’s struggles to break out of mid-table monotony over the last decade or so, they have maintained a reputation for elite scouting and recruitment operations. Udinese found the likes of Alexis Sanchez, David Pizarro, Samir Handanovic, Juan Cuadrado and Piotr Zielinski in domestic leagues in Chile, Slovenia, Colombia and Poland. They also spotted the potential of a young playmaker in Serie B called Bruno Fernandes in 2013 and pounced, launching the current Manchester United captain’s top-flight career. Pizzaro spent six highly productive years at Udinese before moving on to Inter Milan and Roma Gazzetta dello Sport recently described Udinese as the ‘laboratory of Italy’, calling it ‘a little NASA of the provinces where they work on predicting the future’. It is to Miller’s credit, then, that he was identified as a target by one of Europe’s most thorough and prepared scouting operations. The Antonio Di Natale-inspired glory years of 15 years ago, when a talent-packed Zebrette side rose as high as third, now feel distant, but these 30-year Serie A stalwarts are built on strong foundations and are one of just five top-flight clubs to own their own ground — the 25, 000 seater Bluenergy Stadium. It’s a good place for Miller to be. While Udinese are unlikely to have particularly lofty ambitions for the season ahead, they should be too good to get dragged down. The Scot will get his chance to impress — now it is up to him to follow what has become customary and seize a place in the Serie A spotlight.

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