Former Celtic transfer target David Turnbull has decided to commit to a new contract at Motherwell that keeps him there until the summer of 2022, they announced on their official club website today.
Turnbull and Celtic engaged in a high profile and public transfer saga last summer that resulted in the player agreeing terms, completing a medical and even turning up to Lennoxtown for training.
However, a knee problem discovered in the medical ruined his move and the subsequent surgery kept him out of the Motherwell team for the first half of the season.
He’s since returned to action, making two substitute appearances against St Mirren and Hearts.
With his major goal now getting back to regular starts, the midfielder was keen to sort out his situation at Fir Park and sign a one-year extension.
As quoted by the official Motherwell website, he said: “As soon as I knew I was back, fit and ready to get some game time, I wanted to make sure my contract was sorted.
“I have been here a long time. I feel as if I owe the club and the supporters for the way I have been looked after and treated.
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“I’ve missed most of this season, so this puts us back to pretty much where we were at this stage last year in terms of my deal, giving the club a little more protection as I was coming into the last year of my contract.
“All my focus now is on spending the next few weeks getting up to full fitness, get back to just playing and enjoying playing football for Motherwell.”
Turnbull’s situation has effectively been kicked a year further down the road with all his injury problems.
He now has the same length of contract he did this time last year when Celtic were interested in buying him.
While he’s made an important career choice and shown loyalty to ‘Well, it shouldn’t change the Hoops’ stance if we’re still keen on signing him up.
There are a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to Turnbull though and the next couple of months will tell us a lot about his resilience in recovering from injury and what potential he still holds.
It’ll be fascinating to see how he gets on with a run in the Motherwell team.