David Turnbull will complete his move to Celtic on Friday afternoon so long as he passes his Parkhead medical.
The on-off saga surrounding the Motherwell midfielder’s move took another dramatic twist on Thursday night when it emerged he had backed out of a switch to Norwich in favour of joining the Hoops.
That came after it appeared the champions had pulled the plug on their £3.25million swoop for the 19-year-old Scottish Football Writers’ Association young player of the year.
Celtic released a statement last week announcing they were ready to “move on” to new targets after Turnbull had rejected their “magnificent offer”.
But the Scotland Under-21 playmaker, who netted 15 goals in his breakthrough campaign last year, has had a change of heart and will now swap Fir Park for Celtic Park.
Hoops boss Neil Lennon told Sky Sports News: “We’ve identified David for quite a while. He’s here in the building and hopefully we’ll get a brief chat with him before he goes off for a medical today.
“We like the younger players, we’ve had great success developing players over the past 10-15 years and we see David following in that pathway as well.
“He had a sensational first season with Motherwell and we were very impressed with him.
“We’re hoping that things can get concluded today and announce him later on. He’ll have the medical this morning and if all goes well then we’re hoping he’ll sign this afternoon.”
And Lennon, who has learned that his side will kick-off their quest for a ninth successive title with an opening day clash against St Johnstone, hopes there will be more new faces joining his team soon.
He said: “We need to add to the squad. The players for the last three years have been playing non-stop football and there is no question that the players here need help.
“Some of them have been playing over 60 matches for each of the last three years, hence why we’ve done a treble treble, which is a remarkable feat.
“We’re not stopping there – we want more. Hopefully with the injection of fresh quality that will give the players around the club the needed incentive to go forward as well.”
Meanwhile, Celtic have confirmed the dates of their opening Champions League qualifier.
They will travel to Bosnia to face Sarajevo on Tuesday, July 9 before hosting the return leg at Celtic Park on Wednesday, July 17.
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