Once a fee is set, agreement of personal terms between Turnbull and club expected to be straightforward
Tuesday 25 August 2020 16:51, UK
Celtic have made a renewed approach to sign Motherwell midfielder David Turnbull with a fee close to being agreed between the two sides.
Turnbull was on the verge of joining Celtic in June 2019 before his medical revealed a knee problem, which required him to have an operation and miss six months of football.
The 21-year-old returned to first-team action in February and played twice before the 2019/20 season was ended prematurely by the coronavirus pandemic.
Once a fee is set, the agreement of personal terms between player and club is expected to be straightforward.
Celtic boss Neil Lennon was reluctant to discuss Turnbull during his press conference on Tuesday, stressing his focus was on their Champions League tie against Ferencvaros.
He said: "I have no idea how far or how close anything is, going to be confirmed.
"I have totally been concentrating obviously on Dundee United on Saturday and this game that lies ahead for us [on Wednesday night].
"It is so important, I can't have too many distractions elsewhere."
Turnbull has started all five league games of the new season for Motherwell, scoring one goal against Livingston.
His breakthrough season in 2018/19 saw him score 15 goals and be voted Scottish Football Writers' Young Player of the Year.
Turnbull has made two appearances for Scotland U21s, both coming before his injury in 2019.
If the move is completed, Turnbull will become Neil Lennon's third signing of the summer, following the arrivals of forward Albian Ajeti from West Ham and goalkeeper Vasilios Barkas from AEK Athens.
Callum McGregor sees a lot of himself in David Turnbull and would welcome his addition to the Celtic squad.
"I think he's been excellent," said McGregor. "Obviously Celtic have been monitoring him for a while and he's a top young player so I think it'd be good if we could get him in.
"It would be another face and competition for the boys as well and that always drives the standard on.
"His style of play is similar to myself. You want to do everything in the game and chip in with goals and assists as well.
"So he is definitely a young, exciting talent and all the right noises are coming from everywhere. Everybody likes him, he's a good kid as well and to get him in would be good for Celtic.
"It is the same every year when boys come in, whether they be midfielders, attackers, defenders, it always helps the squad and so it will drive the standards up.
"Celtic are always looking to get better and then you know you have to get better as well".
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