Celtic have a lot of squad depth at the moment and Ange Postecoglou has the luxury to rotate his team a lot more this time around, than he did last season. One of the areas where he has most options is attacking midfield, as the likes of Matt O’Riley, Sead Haksabanovic and David Turnbull can all play there, depending upon the situation.
One player who has gotten a bit lost in the shuffle this time around though is Turnbull. He was not a regular starter last season either but when he did play, he made quite the impact. That has not been the case in the ongoing campaign till now.
According to stats from Transfermarkt, Turnbull has made 14 appearances in which he has scored just once and assisted four times, while playing 529 minutes of football.
Thus, it is pretty clear that he is not one of the first names on Postecoglou’s team sheet. And as reported by Football Insider, Frank McAvennie said about Turnbull:
"“He has got to get more game time and as a player that is really up to him. I am assuming Ange will tell him he is not going to get game time. That is a discussion only they can have.“It is down to Turnbull and what his ambitions are and what he wants to do. He has got to play to get in the Scotland team. I think he should go on loan for six months if he wants to play.“"
Celtic star told to leave on loan amid struggles for playing time
It feels unlikely that Turnbull is going to get a lot of playing time this season unless something unexpected happens, or someone gets injured.
He is a pretty good player but his attributes do not really fit the style of football that Postecoglou wants his side to play, which has prevented Turnbull from getting regular playing time.
At the moment, it would not be wise for Celtic to let Turnbull leave on loan, as that would weaken their depth in the attacking midfield position. But if they did end up signing another attacking midfielder in the future, then it would be time to part ways with the Scottish international, either on loan or on a permanent basis. As things stand though, do not be surprised to see him remain at Parkhead beyond January.