Jens Berthel Askou stressed that long-term stability would be the focus for Motherwell’s record transfer as he reiterated the club’s commitment to rearing young talent.
Motherwell this week finalised a deal for Lennon Miller that guarantees a fee that “significantly surpasses” the previous club record transfer for David Turnbull. There are add-ons tied to the midfielder’s progress and a sell-on clause incorporated in the deal with Serie A Udinese that offer the potential for further income in future years.
Such was the 18-year-old’s undoubted talent and potential that the club board has been carefully planning how to utilise any windfall and Askou is fully behind the long-term approach.
“We are still working within our framework and our budget and driving this club forward sustainably,” the Motherwell manager said in his pre-match media conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to St Johnstone.
“When you make a big deal like we’ve done now, obviously it’s not going to be splashed all over. It’s going to be benefiting Motherwell FC, obviously a little bit short-term, but in general in the long term. So we’ll be able to produce another Lennon Miller in the future and we’ll be able to be even more competitive as a club and keep progressing like the path the club has been on always.
“We’re not going to risk the club and the balance within the club and the structure, because we’ve been in the Premiership for many, many years and we want to keep doing that, doing what we do. But obviously we’ve taken some steps into modernising the club within the framework we have and we’re not going to risk that by overspending and just taking quick decisions.
“We’re doing things with the right speed and tempo, so we also have a good and healthy club in months and years and decades to come. We’re not going to change our approach to the way we drive the football club from a financial point of view. But obviously it gives us some stability and some opportunities to maybe think about some of the long-term investments we know we need to do, maybe to be able to speed that process up a little bit, which is very positive for the football club.”
Wishaw-born Miller is the latest in a long line of talented footballers to make their name at Fir Park. In the last 10 years along, Motherwell have also received transfer fees or training compensation for the likes of Lee Erwin, David Turnbull, Allan Campbell, James Scott, Jake Hastie, Reece McAlear, Dean Cornelius, Chris Cadden, Bailey Rice and Max Johnston. In June, Miller became the fifth member of that group to win full Scotland caps.
The hugely productive work of the Motherwell FC Academy has been a major factor in the club extending their stay in the top flight of Scottish football into a fifth decade, and maintaining the youth pathway is central to the decision-making processes at Fir Park.
Askou said: “It’s everyone’s job here that we try to get the most out of what comes through the club, both what comes through the academy at a very young age, and also the ones who come at a later stage. It’s been a part of what we are able to do here at Motherwell long before I’ve arrived, and I hope it will be in the future.
“There are interesting players in the academy, and also we have some good young players taking their first step in the first team right now. I’m not going to mention any names because it’s going to put unnecessary pressure on them, but we see interesting players every day and they’re really trying to also adapt to some of the stuff we’ve implemented. So I’m positive that we will see new young players coming up in the near future.”