After a quiet start, Neil Lennon looks to be upping the pace in the transfer window.
Celtic are set to return for Motherwell’s David Turnbull according to reports in The Scottish Sun and having agreed a £3million fee previously, negotiations for the Scotland Under-21 international should be relatively straight forward – unless clauses are inserted to compensate for missing last season through the now infamous knee surgery that was required.
Having missed out on John McGinn previously, losing Turnbull to an English side when a deal was all but signed and sealed last season would be a significant blow now that he has demonstrated that he is over his injury issues and firing on all cylinders.
Central midfield is an area that we are well catered for in the starting XI but Scott Brown is 35 and Olivier Ntcham has been close to the exit door on more than one occasion, added to Tom Rogic’s expected departure and there is a gap that needs to be filled.
Turnbull isn’t a better player than Ryan Christie or Ntcham, however, by shuffling the pack, the gaffer could see a revitalised engine room with pace, technical ability and additional firepower.
The common sense – if potentially controversial – move is to bench the skipper and deploy McGregor in a deeper role alongside Turnbull playing as a traditional number eight with Christie in the more advanced attacking midfield slot, this works in both the 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 formations that Lennon favours.
Think about the way that Stuart Armstrong used to play but with added physicality and even more potential, what has to be remembered is that Turnbull wasn’t actually injured and had never had any problems with his knee previous to the medical he had as part of his proposed move to Celtic, this isn’t a gamble on a player who spends most of his time on the sidelines.
Are you frustrated that Turnbull hasn't already been signed?
Yes
No
The player wants the move – he “signed” for the club before after all – and it is the same manager, the 21-year old has proven his fitness and has returned to the sort of form that attracted attention in the first place, it is the proverbial “no brainer”, to lose out on McGinn was careless, if it happened again and we missed out on Turnbull, it would be borderline negligence from the recruitment department.