DELIGHTED TURNBULL HAS SORO TO THANK FOR AWARD
DAVID TURNBULL has credited Ismaila Soro for laying the groundwork for his SPFL Premiership Player of the
Month award.
The 21-year-old midfielder broke through in tandem with the Ivorian at the start of December and scored three league goals as Neil Lennon’s champions put together a winning run.
The upturn in the team’s form also coincided with a change in formation that saw Soro accommodated at the base of a midfield diamond.
Turnbull admits Soro’s presence allowed him the freedom to maraud through the attacking third.
‘Since we changed to that diamond formation it has worked really well,’ said Turnbull. ‘It’s good playing with Soro. He is intelligent and he is also a great tackler. Everybody knows how good he is at winning the ball back and it’s great when he does that.
‘And when he gets it back he is also great at feeding it through to myself and the front boys.’
While it has taken Turnbull time to get up to speed following his £3million move from Motherwell in September, Soro has had an even longer acclimatisation period.
Recruited last January from Israeli side Bnei Yehuda, Soro has had to adapt to new surroundings and a new language — all in the midst of a pandemic.
‘He speaks a wee bit of English but he is still learning the language,’ added Turnbull.
‘He laughs constantly though and always has a smile on his face. I think it will be tough for him away from the football. Unlike the Scottish lads, he’s a long way from home.
‘Our trip to Dubai helped with that. It was good for the team spirit and helped us all get to know each other. There were extra sessions, longer sessions where we worked on things we hadn’t been able to back here.’
Turnbull now hopes to convince Steve Clarke he is worthy of promotion to Scotland’s Euro 2020 squad.
‘I knew I would need to bide my time when I came to Celtic,’ he said. ‘The job was to train as hard as I could and if I kept doing that I was confident I’d nail down a place in the team.
‘I would like to make a wee push for Scotland but I need to play every week.’