The race for one of Scotland’s hottest prospects has really picked up pace since Norwich City made a late charge to the front, but who is David Turnbull?
The race for one of Scotland's hottest prospects has really picked up pace since Norwich City made a late charge to the front, but who is David Turnbull?
As with so many of the top talents north of the border, it looked like Celtic would have first dibs on a player who had starred in the Scottish Premiership, becoming an extremely valuable commodity for Motherwell.
However, with talks breaking down with the Hoops, sporting director Stuart Webber made his move for the Canaries and a deal reportedly worth £3.25million was agreed.
Motherwell have had high hopes for their young hopefuls in recent years, having won the Scottish Youth Cup for the first time in 2016, ending six years of dominance from the Glasgow giants of Celtic and Rangers.
Turnbull was in the starting XI of that 5-2 final victory over Hearts - at 16 years old - and was handed his senior debut in a Scottish Cup tie at Dundee within two years, coming on as a late substitute in February 2018.
By the end of the 2017-18 campaign the youngster's first league chance came, setting up the only goal in a 1-0 win at Partick Thistle on his full league debut - curling over a sumptuous free-kick from the right which was headed in at the back post, still two months short of his 18th birthday.
Despite those encouraging signs, few at Fir Park could have predicted the rapid rise to prominence that Turnbull would enjoy during 2018-19.
After starting off on the fringes of the first team, the youngster forced his way into Stephen Robinson's team and eventually made one of the central midfield berths his own, to finish the season with exceptional figures, even if his team's campaign was mediocre.
An outstanding return of 15 goals and six assists from 30 league games saw the 19-year-old well and truly grasp his opportunity with both hands.
That led to a much improved contract in January, with his deal due to expire this summer, committing to his boyhood club until 2021 despite speculation linking him to Southampton, Swansea and Sunderland.
"I can kick on now, keep getting games under my belt, keep trying to do what I'm doing and hopefully it could be the start of something," Turnbull said at the time. "I think I've made a decent start, but I know I've got a lot to learn and the place for me to do that is at Motherwell."
Norwich City transfer rumour: Scottish midfielder set for talks as Celtic pull plug
In the process of kicking on he became an under-21 international, with the Wishaw-born talent winning his first two Scotland caps at that level in March, in friendlies against Mexico and Sweden.
His superb individual campaign finished on a high as well, being named Young Player of the Year by the Scottish Football Writers' Association and being nominated for the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland's equivalent award.
All of which has led to Turnbull and his representatives realising their stock was high this summer, with the Scottish Sun reporting that Celtic had offered wages of £12,000 a week, 20 times higher than his current £600.
After boldly turning down the dominant Scottish champions, due to reportedly wanting closer to £20,000 a week, Norwich spotted an opportunity to snare one of British football's hottest prospects.
A deal worth a reported £3million, with £250,000 in add-on fees and a sell-on fee would almost double Well's previous club record sale - emphasising Turnbull's impact even further.
The question for Norwich fans now is whether the goal-scoring midfielder could play a prominent role in the Premier League for Daniel Farke's team next season, or whether City still feel he is a rough diamond in need of polishing during a quality loan spell?
Sheffield Wednesday are another of the Championship clubs reported to be keen, only for a 'soft transfer embargo' to be imposed by the EFL due to financial fair play issues.
Could the Owls and their manager Steve Bruce provide the perfect finishing school? Could that even help to smooth safe passage back to Norfolk for Jordan Rhodes? Perhaps that's one for the conspiracy theorists...
It's clear Turnbull has teed up some exciting future prospects and has plenty of options but he is still at the start of his journey with plenty to prove, with the lower reaches of the Scottish Premiership arguably well short of Championship standards in England.
Yet with City showing their nous on the youth development front during Farke's reign, he could well see the Canaries as a very sensible step in his development.
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