In what was the biggest transfer saga of the summer in Scottish football, David Turnbull to Celtic proved to be both frustrating and totally bizarre. A spat between the Motherwell, Celtic and Turnbull’s agent dominated headlines as statements came out detailing the progress. The deal seemed to have been lost by Celtic as newly promoted Norwich threatened to take the Scottish youngster to Carrow Road.
But then, Celtic came in and offered a deal that the player, agent and selling club were in agreement over. Turnbull was pictured beside Neil Lennon, Celtic had their man. Or did they?
Midway through his medical, it became apparent that there was an issue to sabotage the deal. Turnbull had a rare knee condition, that had no symptoms. Instead of risking a potentially career ending injury by ignoring their discovery, Turnbull opted for the preventive surgery.
The 20-year-old went from a potentially life changing move to finding himself on a long road to recovery.
Now, Turnbull is back. Motherwell’s CEO Alan Burrows teased that Turnbull was back.
Si Señor 👀 pic.twitter.com/S1tM4luybU
— Alan Burrows (@Alan_Burrows) February 25, 2020
Stephen Robinson was delighted for Turnbull, who has managed to get through training and games without any problems. Now, Turnbull was in the squad for the ‘Well’s clash with St Mirren, despite being a month away from starting games.
Speaking to BBC Scotland Sportsound, Robinson gave an update on Turnbull’s progress following his inclusion in the match day squad.
“It’s a huge boost to have someone of David’s quality involved.
“He got the okay yesterday, he has been playing on a regular basis for a month, playing in closed door games and training games.
“We have to temper expectations, it will be case of building it up gradually, increasing the load as we go.
“It will be another month to six weeks before David is starting games but he is definitely someone to bring on with the talent he has.
“He is a level headed young man who has brilliant attention from the football club.”
It will be interesting to see whether Celtic move for Turnbull in the summer should he be able to recapture the form that had him nominated for the Scottish Young Player of the Year, where he was bizarrely beaten by a Liverpool loanee.
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