David Turnbull rejected Norwich City despite a ‘head turning’ pitch from Stuart Webber in the transfer saga of last summer.

The highly-rated attacking midfielder was courted by the Canaries ahead of their return to the Premier League, and was even shown around Colney by City’s sporting director.

Turnbull had already dallied with Scottish champions Celtic before opting to revive a Parkhead deal that later collapsed over a knee issue flagged on his medical.

The 20-year-old starlet made a long awaited playing return for Motherwell earlier this month, following career-saving surgery, before the coronavirus shutdown put his season on hold again.

But Turnbull has admitted he was very tempted to join the Canaries’ crop of exciting talent.

“My head was all over the place,” he said. “I was talking to Stuart Webber and he was really good. He promoted what they had done with the academy, what they were doing with the first team. He told me everything.

“It was really good and it was making my head turn a little.

“I went down to the Norwich training ground on the Thursday but my heart was set on Celtic, just because they had been in from the start and it had been going on so long.

“My representative and me had decided that was the day (at Colney) when we chose whether it was Norwich or Celtic.

“We were sat in an office, just me and him, and Celtic came back with another offer. I couldn’t turn that down.”

Yet that was only the start of a bombshell discovery which would scupper Turnbull’s dream move.

“I have never had any long term injuries, never missed a day’s training the season before, wasn’t hurting so it came as a shock,” he said, in a special Motherwell documentary charting his comeback. “The specialists said I could play on for another five or ten years and not have a problem or I could go into training tomorrow and it could go as soon as that and snap.

“That could end my career. It was hard to take.

“Once I heard that I knew I needed the operation. It was one of the hardest things

“I have ever had to come through. Gut wrenching. The first few weeks were tough. I didn’t want to speak to people.

“I will never take a day training for granted again. I’ll give it all 100pc with what I have been through.”