CELTIC youngster Calvin Miller is still getting to grips with his new role but says he feels a different person since breaking through for his club.
The 19-year-old is hoping to make his bow for the Scotland Under-21s tonight after being included in Scot Gemmill’s squad to face Latvia and Ukraine in two important European Championship qualifiers.
Whilst most at his age are still learning their game, Miller is also adapting to a new position on the pitch having been converted into a defender by Brendan Rodgers.
Having grown up a winger, Miller featured at left-back against Partick Thistle. He still has the in-form Kieran Tierney ahead of him at club level but feels his early exposure to first-team action has helped his development a great deal.
“Sometimes when I’m training, I feel like I’m part of the squad,” he said. “And when I play the youth games I feel more experienced and like one of the older ones in the team, so I can show that on the park. I’m still young but there are high hopes.
“Training has been so enjoyable and you learn so many different things.
“I feel like since I moved positions I’ve become a different person, I’ve learnt to become more aggressive and the defensive side of the game – and that is coming to me more and more.”
Despite admitting he is “still a bit poor” defensively, Miller is keen to develop his game in an attacking sense and is targeting a more advanced role.
He said: “The gaffer (Brendan Rodgers) said he had plans to play me as a wing-back – but for the first team they are basically wingers so I didn’t really see that as a bad thing because its still the best team in Scotland and I wasn’t doing that much defending.
“I was trying to take the positives from it because when you’re an attacker from such a young age, you don’t want to be told you’re a defender.
“It was a bit of a shock to the system, but I’ve seen the positives to it.”
He added: “I wouldn’t say I see myself as a left-back, more of a wing-back.”
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