International boss reveals Celtic phone call with Rodgers and what Hoops gaffer told him about emerging talent
The Celtic boss rates the emerging Hoops talent in high regard.
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill has revealed his conversations with Brendan Rodgers over a promising Celtic talent.
The midfielder impressed the Hoops boss in pre-season and made his professional debut last month against St Mirren in a 3-0 Premiership win. He didn’t go out on loan in the summer transfer window and Rodgers outlined his Celtic plans for Turley post-match.
He said: “I think he needs to stay. I was really impressed with him over the course of pre-season. He still has a lot of maturation, and I think that what we don’t need to do is put a lot of hype into a young 18-year-old. Just take your time.”
O’Neill has also been impressed by what he’s seen from Turley. The Northern Irish gaffer has had discussions with Rodgers about him and while he feels now is not the time for a senior step into his international plans, he knows his time is in the future.
The boss said: “I’ve had conversations with Brendan and the people at Celtic about Fra. He is well known to us. Unfortunately, he missed out on the Euro Under-19 Championships because he was away with the Celtic first team.
“We will continue to monitor his progress. It’s great he was on the bench for Celtic the last couple of games, and great that he got on the pitch for his debut, but at this moment in time, I think he is just a little bit young and a little bit inexperienced, though his time will come.
“I don’t think at Celtic at this stage he is ready for a loan. That’s not part of the plan there. He might have to be patient in terms of what minutes he is able to get at first-team level, but the fact he is around the first team and Brendan clearly rates him highly and has talked to me about his high level of technique shows how he is thought of.”