Celtic are chasing Motherwell’s David Turnbull – but their move has hit a problem.
BT Sport pundit Stephen Craigan has told The Scottish Sun that Celtic boss Neil Lennon first showed interest in Motherwell midfielder David Turnbull a year ago.
Celtic are looking to make moves in the transfer market this summer, and Turnbull has become a top target after a superb 16-goal campaign with Motherwell.
The Bhoys actually agreed a £3million deal for Turnbull on Wednesday, and a move to Parkhead seemed like something of a formality after a lengthy pursuit.
However, the deal hit the rocks on Friday. Celtic confirmed in a statement that they were unable to reach an agreement with Turnbull, and whilst their offer remains on the table, they’re happy to move on if Turnbull doesn’t sign.
Turnbull’s agent may well look at others in England, and Celtic boss Lennon would be gutted to miss out on the 19-year-old, which has been hammered home by pundit Craigan.
A year ago, Craigan was in charge of the Motherwell development side, and has revealed that now-Celtic boss Lennon spoke to him in the game against Hibernian, admitting he liked the look of Turnbull.
Craigan thinks that Turnbull’s progression has been on Lennon’s mind after seeing him in action a year ago, believing that signing him for Celtic has been a done deal in his mind for some time now – and he’ll surely be praying that an agreement can be reached this week.
“We actually had half a team that day but David Turnbull played. I remember speaking to Lenny after the game. He said: ‘I like your No 8′. I said David was close to the first team and he talked about how he could deal with the ball. It was just a conversation,” said Craigan. “Neil’s last game as Hibs manager was against Motherwell at Fir Park and who scored the winner? The same No8. You wonder if that started to build in Lenny’s head.”
“He has seen David’s progression. It maybe stuck in his mind he wasn’t bad. You wouldn’t think he’s pushing to sign him on the basis of that game a year ago — but it plants the seed. You always tell young players you never know who’s watching or who is interested. You could see Turnbull rolling his eyes as if to say it wouldn’t be him, because he wanted to play in Motherwell’s first team back then. It just shows you if you perform at the right moment somewhere along the line it might come back. If Turnbull ends up going to Celtic then maybe it will have been a deal that was done a long while ago — in Lenny’s mind anyway!” he added.
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