David Turnbull this week was linked with a surprise move to AC Milan. How much truth is in it is anyone’s guess , but knowing the SMSM it’s worth taking with a pinch of salt.
Turnbull is a very good player, not AC Milan class in my opinion but he’s decent nevertheless. Or who knows, maybe AC have seen the success the likes of Lewis Ferguson and Aaron Hickey have had in Serie A and have decided to plunder the Scottish market themselves. That would certainly make sense when you consider how the other exports from the Scottish Premiership have faired on Italian football.
David Turnbull is out of contract in the summer and there seems no progress of a new contract signing in the pipelines, there could well be, but it looks unlikely at the moment with Brendan Rodgers recently confirming that the club did indeed want to keep the player. It appears to be down to the player’s frustration at the lack of game-time but the manager’s job is to pick the best team and if others are ahead of Turnbull in that regard then what is Rodgers supposed to do?
Is David worth keeping? I had high hopes for him at the start of the season and he started brightly before fading away. He is however the joint top scorer in the SPFL although the majority of them have arrived via the penalty spot.
I just don’t see him breaking into the midfield, he is struggling to do so at the moment and that’s with Reo Hatate injured. It doesn’t look promising for David which is a shame as his overall goals and assists stats in his time at the club makes for decent reading.
Celtic and David Turnbull may well reach an agreement on a new deal, but at the moment it looks unlikely. However with an abundance of football matches to be played in before the transfer window opens that could well change.
Rodgers may well look at giving Turnbull the game-time to prove a point, equally any offer for the former Motherwell midfielder may well be tempting as he looks at adding quality to his squad in the next two transfer windows.
It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.
Here’s Brendan Rodgers speaking to Sky Sports earlier today…
🍀 "There's a long way for us to go I would say…"
Brendan Rodgers says Celtic are far from their peak as he reflects on the Champions League and looks ahead to their trip to St Johnstone.
📺 Sky Sports, Sunday from 11am. pic.twitter.com/ONT8kR3GNH
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) December 1, 2023
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
Turnbull is worth a goal a game based on his shooting prowess alone and he provides very good assists and sprays the ball around, a very Continental player in the Celtic squad. However his critics accuse him of not being a sprinter or have an engine to last 90 minutes plus. So what ? He is what he is. What other Celtic player has Turnbull’s qualities ? He can be played for 65 mins or come on as an impact player. He is not appreciated in my opinion. He cried bitter tears last season when he got his hamstring injury and he is not an emotive man by nature so you could see how much he wants to play for Celtic and help his team mates. If AC Milan see him as worthy of a move to Italy he should take it. It will improve his career and his profile and his salary. He also will get the respect he deserves. Some people at Celtic have poor memories of the great results he has been involved with playing at the club. Either offer him a good contract with improved conditions or let him go to AC Milan.