In the last two fixtures, midfielder David Turnbull has started to really come into his own, grabbing a goal and two assists against Lille and Kilmarnock.
Turnbull signed for the Hoops from fellow Scottish Premiership side Motherwell in the summer, after impressing at the club he spent 10+ years at as a youngster.
The journey to Celtic Park didn’t come easy for the 22-year old who was originally meant to sign a year previously but the move was called off due to a knee injury that forced him out for a large majority of the season.
So it is clear that Neil Lennon is a fan of him as a player and had faith, going straight back in for the Scotland u21s international, despite the risk of the injury having an effect on his career as a whole.
It turns out though that Lennon hasn’t just been a fan of Turnbull as a player in the last year. It started all the way back during his time at Edinburgh side, Hibernian.
As reported by Glasgow Live, former Motherwell man Stephen Craigan revealed a story of the now Celtic boss and how he first picked up an interest back in 2018, when Hibs u20s side faced off against the Steelmen.
“It was probably round about April or May 2018. Hibs had that very good Under-20s side, they won the Scottish Cup that year.
“They won the league, they were captained by Ryan Porteous. We played them away on the last day of the season at the Oriam.
“I had a bit of an under-strength side because our first-team players were struggling so Stephen didn’t want to take any risks. But David played in the game.
“Hibs beat us 4-2 and it was the trophy lift right after that game. I was just talking to Neil while the players were getting their medals and we stayed to applaud them and show respect towards their efforts.
“He actually said to me quietly, ‘Who’s your number eight?’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because I really like him’. I said it’s David Turnbull, you’ve got to keep an eye on him, honestly. He’s a top player’.
“Even with the result and the way the game went, he said he was the one player that stood out. And I kind of forgot about it. You move on, you disappear and you forget about the conversation. I didn’t even tell David about it
“It wasn’t until he got the Celtic job and the interest appeared it came back into my mind. And there’s no doubt coaches and managers keep an eye on players, they want to follow their progress.
“And he’d have been interested to see when David stepped into the Motherwell first team, and how he would react. Right from that day, it certainly planted the seed in Neil Lennon’s mind, and eventually, he took him to Celtic.”
It’s really interesting to hear that the origins of Lennon’s interest in Turnbull came from a young age and he has clearly had an eye on him ever since.
So far, he has shown us glimpses of what he can bring to the side. A run in the side is crucial now to see if he can continue to have the same high impact he has had as he could become a really key asset for us going forward in the short and also long-term future.
