Lennon a long-time admirer of Turnbull, reveals Craigan

NEIL Lennon was instantly impressed by David Turnbull two years before eventually taking the midfielder to Celtic Park, according to Stephen Craigan.

Now the Celtic boss has to decide whether to put his undoubted faith in the 21-year-old for Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup final against Hearts or stand by the players who have helped the club win the previous 11 domestic trophies.

Turnbull has lit up Celtic’s play in the past two games, with victories against Lille and Kilmarnock providing respite after a run of two wins from the previous 12 matches. The Scotland Under-21s player scored his first goal for Celtic and set up two more having been handed starts after a series of substitute appearances following his move from Motherwell earlier this season.

Lennon first picked out Turnbull’s talent while manager of Hibernian as he watched the club’s Under-20s side beat Craigan’s Motherwell before they collected the Development League trophy.

Craigan told the Football Pass Youtube channel: “I was talking to Neil while the players were getting their medals and he actually said to me quietly: ‘ Who’s your number eight? I really like him’.

“I said: ‘It’s David Turnbull and you need to keep your eye on him because he’s a top player’.

“He said: ‘ Even for the result, he was the one player that stood out for me’.

“Coaches and managers keep an eye on players, so he would have been interested to see when David stepped into the Motherwell first team and how he would react.

“To get 15 goals from November 2018 to May 2019 from midfield as a 19-year-old was incredible, and eventually Neil took him to Celtic.”

Craigan believes Turnbull is the best young player he has worked with.

“Nothing fazed David,” the former Northern Ireland defender added. “Going from 16-year-old to playing Under-18s, Under-20s, playing in Motherwell’s first team, and watching him the last couple of games for Celtic, he still plays the same way.

“He wants to get on the ball, he wants to find pockets of space, he wants to affect the game going forward, he wants to get shots off. He is probably a little bit away fitness wise, he will get sharper and stronger, so the only way I see him going is upwards.”