Turnbull scoops young player award

David Turnbull, winner of the Scottish Football Writers Association’s Young Scottish Player of the Year Award, has admitted his future may be out of his hands.

The Motherwell midfielder is a lifelong fan of the club and has been in the academy since the age of 10.

He recently signed a new deal, but so pronounced has been his progress over the last few months that he is expected to be a target for predatory interest from south of the border.

Southampton were linked with him, before he put pen to paper on his contract, and several English Premiership and Championship outfits have scouted him over the last few months.

“I am not sure my future is really up to me,” the 19-year-old told The Sunday Post

“I just want to come back next season and see what happens.

“If clubs come in and put a bid in then it is obviously a bonus and shows that I am doing well, but I am not sure it is up to me.

“If somebody came in and bid a lot of money I am sure the club would want to take it and maybe look at a loan back if I went somewhere.

“At the moment, I am just focusing on Motherwell.”

If there is a light at the end of the table for supporters of the Fir Park outfit, it is that Turnbull is happy where he is.

“Playing every week, week in, week out, is brilliant, a great experience. There is not much more you can ask for really,” he said.

“It is what you dream of as a kid and I do believe another season here wouldn’t go amiss. In fact, it would help me a lot.

“This is my first breakthrough season. Getting another 30-40 games under my belt would be good and then we could see what happens from there.”

Turnbull applies the same logic to dressing-room chat that he could be in line for a Scotland call-up for next month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Cyprus and Belgium.

“To get a full cap is the ultimate dream really,” he said, of speculation he could soon be playing alongside SFWA Player of the Year nominees James Forrest and Callum McGregor in the senior squad.

“It is what everyone dreams of as a young boy, and it would be unreal for me and my family.

“I think I could go in there and hold my own, I don’t see why not. I’ve played against all of those boys this season, and I feel like I have done a pretty good job.

“That wouldn’t faze me at all really, going in and training with them. I would just go in there and try to do my best.”