Celtic will rue Miller defection, says Chalmers

CELTIC legend Stevie Chalmers believes Martin O’Neill would now be building his team around Liam Miller had the youngster not quit for Manchester United.

The Republic of Ireland international, who moved to Old Trafford on a Bosman free in January, will not come face to face with his former team-mates in Philadelphia tomorrow after sustaining an injury in training.

The midfielder’s defection to Manchester has still left a bitter taste in the mouth of Martin O’Neill and many Hoops supporters.

Chalmers believes Miller would have been better off staying at Parkhead and will find it tough to break into United’s starting XI.

But he also believes that Alex Ferguson would not have pounced for his signature if he did not think he had what it takes to become a great in English football.

“The boy that has left for Manchester United is a great prospect,” Chalmers said.

“It was a shame that he didn’t want to stay at Celtic Park. I thought he was a great prospect, but he is just a prospect and still has a long way to go.

“But I thought you could have built a team around that boy eventually and could have been a big player for the club this season.

“I could be wrong because he is still a prospect but I don’t think he will get in too easy at Manchester United, although Alex Ferguson has probably had a good look at him and he’ll want to try and mould him into a great player.

“It’s not easy to get into a top team like that from being a prospect but he’s shown a lot of bottle to go there in the first place which will stand him in good stead.”

O’Neill is also looking for a replacement for departed striker Henrik Larsson but Chalmers believes a successful season will ease the pain of losing the Swede.

Larsson’s move is still being felt in Glasgow but the European Cup winner feels Larsson will easily be forgotten if the club build on last season’s silverware and further boost their trophy cabinet.

“It’s very, very hard to replace him but things will change around,” continued Chalmers.

“It might be a different set-up altogether but they will change it around. People will forget Henrik Larsson if Martin gets a wee bit of success.”