Celtic legend Chris Sutton has been left baffled by the £2 million sale of David Turnbull to Cardiff City at a time when Reo Hatate is set to be out of action for a number of weeks.
If the nature of Celtic’s incomings left the fans a little cold – Nicolas Kuhn exciting but unproven and Adam Idah arriving having started only eight league games for an underperforming Norwich City side – then the departures also raise more questions than answers.
Take David Turnbull, for instance, the midfielder who joined Cardiff City for £2 million on deadline day.
Ok, the former Motherwell ace probably does not get into Celtic’s best XI when everyone is fit and available. But with Hatate potentially facing two months on the sidelines thanks to a torn calf muscle, Sutton cannot understand why The Hoops green-lit a deal which saw one of the few senior midfielders in Rodgers’ squad bid farewell at a time where their options in the centre of the park are already stretched.
Celtic sell David Turnbull to Cardiff City
“Brendan Rodgers is right about one thing. There is no use in finger-pointing at Parkhead, because everyone is at fault. But there are some other parts of Rodgers’s reasoning I can’t get my head around,” Sutton tells the Daily Record.
“People are not daft. Fans will hammer Peter Lawwell and his son Mark as head of recruitment, and maybe that’s fair game. Michael Nicholson took the plaudits under Ange and, as CEO, and will get flak now. But Rodgers is also culpable. He has the final say over transfers and the buck stops with the manager over comings and goings.
“I just can’t see the strategy. It’s so muddled. Why let David Turnbull go when Reo Hatate is going to be out for a number of weeks?”
Turnbull is not only Hatate’s most natural replacement in the starting XI, he is also a regular source of goals. The Scotland international has seven from nine Scottish Premiership starts.
Seven goals in nine Premiership starts
“Celtic got money from Cardiff and it looked like he wanted to go. But sometimes there are greater needs,” Sutton adds. “I’m not saying Turnbull is a world-beater but he has an eye for goal. He is the club’s third top scorer this season, and one of the few at the club who knows how to hit a penalty.
“None of this makes much sense.”
Celtic did, however, retain the services of Gustaf Lagerbielke despite the Swede going public with his desire to seal a switch to Lecce.
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