One in, One out as Celtic get Green light from Turnbull and Ntcham eyes exit

DAVID TURNBULL looks likely to be a Celtic player within the next 24 hours after having the weekend to consider his options. Things went spectacularly wrong for the 19 year old Motherwell star on Friday afternoon when Peter Lawwell dispensed with the usual Celtic secrecy around transfer dealings, bypassed the press completely and took to the club’d Twitter handle to explain directly to the support what was going on in the negotiations with Turnbull’s agent.

Information had been fed to the media about a medical having been passed and that the negotiations had stalled as Celtic had not met with the player’s demands, perhaps with the intention of getting the Celtic support’s collective backs up and on Lawwell’s case over the weekend.

But Lawwell’s Twitter initiative, which is so out of character, it caught everyone by surprise, looks like being a game changer. Lawwell left the deal on the table for a short period and with Motherwell anxious to bring in the funds that Celtic have offered, all the pressure went on the agent to turn English interest into a definite bid quickly.

Press speculation, strategically planted or just made up click bait rumours, have no real currency in these circumstances and mentioning the likes of Southampton, Bournemouth or Sheffield Wednesday cut through with no-one that really mattered.

The only other offer that Motherwell had to consider with as low ball bid from Barnsley with payment being made in 3 instalments. Instead of a cheque from Celtic for £2.75million they could have around £400k arriving from Barnsley.

Celtic’s case was also strengthened by some comparisons surrounding players such as Virgil Van Dijk and Victor Wanyama who developed their careers through their time at Celtic and were paid less than Celtic were offering Turnbull.

And also some speculation about how if Celtic met Turnbull’s demands he’d end up being paid more than some of the established Celtic players who have contributed enormously to the Treble Treble success of the past three seasons. Lawwell’s description of the offer made to Turnbull as ‘magnificent’ was pretty much spot on and is now almost certainly going to be accepted, as we told you yesterday.

The Celtic Star ran a Poll at the weekend asking this question.

After his agent rejected Celtic’s ‘magnificent’ offer do you still want Celtic to sign David Turnbull?

Yesterday morning the total number of votes cast was 4598 and the voting was as follows:

NO  –  3,705 votes (81%). YES – 893 votes (19%) The poll remains open and the number of votes has increased to 6,242 (you can only vote once), with 4,855 supporters voting no (78%) and 1387 voting yes, that’s 22%.

You can add your vote and check how the voting is going below.

After his agent rejected Celtic's 'magnificent' offer, do you still want Celtic to sign David Turnbull?

View Results

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Meanwhile Olivier Ntcham, a week or so after removing all mentions of Celtic from his social media accounts, has been representing France in an Under 21 Tournament in Italy and speaking about his ‘interest’ in a move to Marseille this summer.

“Yes, it’s very interesting. Marseille are a big club,” the £15million rated Celtic Star said.

It is increasingly looking like one in and one out from Celtic midfield before the attention turns to signing a right back and a central defender, with both expected to arrive this month.

Some of The Celtic Bhoys return to Lennoxtown today to begin their preparation for the new season and the summer Champions League qualifiers – details on the THREE European Draws happening this week can be found HERE.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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