Stephen Robinson won’t put a date on when David Turnbull will return to playing football.
During the summer Motherwell went public that they had accepted an offer from Celtic for the midfielder but that simply opened up an unlikely chain of events.
The player’s agent used that announcement to hold negotiations with English clubs with Turnbull travelling to Norwich to hold transfer talks.
Leaks about deals were surfacing all over the place but after deciding on Celtic he was interviewed by the club’s TV service wearing the hoops ahead of his likely signing.
Turnbull’s medical turned the story on its head again when it threw up the need for knee surgery. Motherwell and Celtic failed to renegotiate their deal with the player facing at least six months in rehab on his basic wage at Fir Park.
Celtic aren’t short on midfield options but once the 20-year-old is restored to full fitness there are bound to be clubs competing for his transfer.
Turnbull has been pictured training with the Motherwell first team with Robinson telling the Daily Record:
Someone described it as having a winning lottery ticket and losing it but the way he’s conducted himself has been fantastic. He’s never felt sorry for himself and his enthusiasm is still there.
We’ve got a very good player in a few weeks or months. We’re holding him back for his own good and we won’t take any chances with him.
He’s not ready for first team action but it’s a fine sight to see – his quality oozes out of him and it excites me. How long till we see him? I don’t know. I’m not putting timescales on him because I don’t want him to be disappointed.
He’s exactly where we thought he’d be, we have been a little bit cautious and rightly so.
Turnbull’s Motherwell contract runs until June 2021.
