STEPHEN O’Donnell is confident his former Motherwell team mate David Turnbull can establish himself as a regular starter at Celtic and shine - if the midfielder bides his time just like his old Kilmarnock team mate Greg Taylor has.
Scotland right back O’Donnell is set to square up to left back Taylor in a Premiership game at Parkhead this afternoon and is intent on winning his personal duel with the man he played alongside at Rugby Park.
However, the 11-times capped 28-year-old, who will join up with the national squad tomorrow to begin preparations for the Nations League matches against Israel and the Czech Republic, admitted he has been pleased to see his fellow defender do well in the past season.
He believes that Turnbull, who completed a £3.25m transfer to the Scottish champions on Thursday, can emulate his friend’s success in the East End of Glasgow once he has found his feet in his new surroundings.
“I’ve only been in the building a short space of time and I’ve seen the quality that David has,” said O’Donnell. “I wish him all the best. He was very unfortunate with what happened to him the other year. It shows the character he has to come back from that, a lot of people wouldn’t.
“He came back and in the couple of games I’ve played with him, you can see he has bags of quality. I just hope he gets the opportunity to show that at Celtic and, if he does, I’m sure he’ll do great.’
“Greg has done great since he has been there. Delighted for him, get on well with him, a great boy and I wish him all the best apart from on Sunday. I speak to him often enough. He’s assured, as you need to be at Celtic. As you know, you can be quickly shot down there.
“I think he’s got the personality to cope with that. It seems he’s doing fine to me. I watched him in the Hamilton game, he got two assists and played brilliant. You’d probably say in the past defensively he was better and offensively he needed to maybe work on that. It shows you he’s come on in leaps and bounds at Celtic and I hope it continues.
“I suppose Greg could’ve been in possession of the jersey if the deal had gone through a wee bit earlier. But (Boli) Bolingoli played against Rangers, did well. So Greg was patient, took his chance and I think he deserves to be where he is.”
He added: “With David, there’s a lot of competition in the middle of the park at Celtic, a lot of seasoned pros. You see it with (Ryan) Christie and (Olivier) Ntcham. You are able to try to squeeze in if you show your qualities. I hope David does. He’s got it and I just hope he does his best.
“What I do know from the outside is that he got a bad injury, that ruined what could’ve been a dream move in every aspect - the size of club, financially. It broke down with a medical. So to come back from that and get that move tells you all you need to know about him mentality wise.”
O’Donnell, who scored his first goal for Motherwell in their 5-1 win over Europa League qualifying rivals Glentoran on Thursday evening, would dearly love to get the better of Taylor in the Premiership match against Celtic at Parkhead this afternoon.
“The last game we played the wee s*** tripped me up and off he went, crossed one in,” he said. “I was left looking like an idiot up the pitch. I would love to put one over on him. He’s put a few over on me.”
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