London: Former Ireland international Liam Miller has died at the age of 36 after suffering with cancer.
Miller, who won 21 caps for Ireland between 2004 and 2009, started his career at Celtic in Scotland before moving to Manchester United.
Celtic were among a number of Miller’s former clubs to pay tribute to the midfielder.
“Everyone at #CelticFC is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of former midfielder Liam Miller. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time,” Celtic said on Twitter.
Extending their condolences on their website, Manchester United said: “We extend our deepest condolences to his loved ones at this difficult time.”
Born in Cork, Ireland on 13 February 1981, Liam joined United for the start of the 2004-05 season. He had spent the previous seven years at Celtic, initially as a youth-team player before turning professional.
Alongside fellow new signing Alan Smith, the Irishman was presented to the media by Sir Alex Ferguson on 20 July 2004 and he made his debut a month later when coming on as a substitute in a Uefa Champions League qualifying match away to Dinamo Bucharest.
That was the first of Miller’s 22 senior appearances for the Reds across four competitions. His two United goals both came in the League Cup, away to Crewe Alexandra in his first season and then at home to Barnet in 2005-06.
The Republic of Ireland international spent the majority of the latter campaign on loan to Leeds United before leaving the Reds in August 2006 and signing a three-year deal with Sunderland, then managed by Roy Keane.
Miller went on to ply his trade with Queens Park Rangers, Hibernian and several clubs in Australia, which led to him facing United in a pre-season tour match in Sydney in July 2013 after being selected for the A-League All-Stars team.
After a spell with his hometown club Cork City in 2015, he played for Wilmington Hammerheads in North Carolina, USA in 2016. In November 2017, it was announced that Liam was receiving treatment for cancer.
