Celtic made a winning start to the league season with a 4-2 win over Ross County at the weekend. The same cannot be said about the Rangers, who lost 1-0 away to Kilmarnock. That means that Brendan Rodgers’ side already have a three-point lead over Michael Beale’s team in the Premiership title race.
One of the best performers for Celtic on Flag Day was David Turnbull. The Scottish international was a surprise inclusion in the starting XI, having struggled to get into the team during Ange Postecoglou’s reign as manager. He managed to score a brace against Ross County though.
Turnbull was one of Celtic’s better performers in pre-season as well. And following his opening day display, one would expect him to remain in the starting XI moving forward.
Frank McAvennie does not expect Turnbull to get a run in the team though. As reported by Football Insider, the former Celtic player said:
"“I do not think Turnbull is going to get a run in the team.“There are just so many midfield players now. Everyone has their favourites and everyone knows who you want to play in midfield.”"
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It remains to be seen what the future holds for Turnbull. Celtic certainly do have a lot of talent in midfield right now.
Of course, the obvious candidate to start over Turnbull is Reo Hatate. The Japanese midfielder was arguably Celtic’s best player last season. He did not perform particularly well in pre-season though, as question marks continue to swirl over his future at Parkhead.
Other than Hatate, Odin Thiago Holm could be a candidate to start in the future as well. The Norwegian talent has managed to impress the Celtic fans since arriving in the summer from Valerenga.
Other than that, Tomoki Iwata and Kwon Hyeok-kyu are expected to compete for minutes on the pitch as well. The club also have James McCarthy and Ismaila Soro, but they would be expected to leave this summer under ideal circumstances. Let’s see how things play out.