DAVID TURNBULL was nowhere to be seen as Celtic beat Kilmarnock 3-1 at Parkhead at the weekend.
Brendan Rodgers omitted the midfielder from his squad for the match against the Ayrshire visitors with summer recruits Odin Holm, a £2.5million purchase from Valarenga, and Paulo Bernardo, on a season-long loan from Benfica, getting the nod for the stand-by group.
The versatile Tomoki Iwata, who arrived on loan from Yokohoma F Marinos in January in a deal which was made permanent in June, was also listed among the nine players on the bench.
Turnbull had been an unused substitute in the previous game, the painful 2-1 loss to Lazio in the Champions League Group E encounter in Glasgow.
ON THE BALL…David Turnbull in command on this occasion.
Unless the £2.75million buy from Motherwell in August 2019 was injured in training, he was simply overlooked on this occasion by the Hoops gaffer.
It’s a startling fall from grace for a player who kicked off the season in the first team ahead of Reo Hatate, who turned in a Man-of-the-Match performance in the impressive triumph over the Rugby Park club which was marked with an eye-catching solo run and shot for the breakthrough goal.
Turnbull netted a double in the Premiership opening-day 4-2 win over Ross County at Parkhead on August 5.
The Scotland international also started the league game against Aberdeen at Pittodrie the following weekend where he was replaced by Hatate at the interval.
A week later, he came on for Holm in the 64th minute as the holders crashed out of the Viaplay League Cup against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, but was in at the kick-off for the goalless draw against St Johnstone a week later. Sead Haksabanovic, now on loan at Stoke City, replaced him on the hour mark.
The 24-year-old middle-of-the-park operator started at Ibrox, but was taken off in the 66th minute with Holm coming on as the visitors celebrated a 1-0 triumph.
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…David Turnbull celebrates one of his three goals this season with a little help from team-mate Daizen Maeda.
Turnbull netted a penalty-kick for his third goal of the season in the 3-0 success over Dundee in Glasgow where Hatate took over from him on the hour mark.
There was no show in the Champions League opener against Feyenoord or the league match at Livingston although he was named among the substitutes.
He came off the bench for Hatate in the 76th minute of the dramatic stoppage-time 2-1 victory over Motherwell at Fir Park which was followed by his consecutive non appearances against Lazio and Killie.
Celtic have seen a succession of players sign long-term deals in recent months with skipper Callum McGregor, Japanese trio Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Hatate, Matt O’Riley, Liel Abada and Scots pair Anthony Ralston and Stephen Welsh all penning enhanced terms.
Puzzlingly, Turnbull has not been mentioned in recent bulletins regarding new contracts.
As CQN pointed out last week, the player will be free to talk to interested parties at the turn of the year and could agree a pre-contract unless the Hoops hierarchy move to tie him down on new deal at Parkhead.
Watch this space!
