Neil Lennon is expected to be appointed as the club’s permanent manager before the weekend, and David Turnbull has emerged as one of the players he could sign this summer.

According to reports from the Daily Mail, Celtic are plotting a £1.2 million move for the highly rated Motherwell midfielder, but the Bhoys could face strong competition from Brighton and Hove Albion.

The 19-year-old scored 16 goals in 34 games in 2018-19 to earn the Scottish football writers’ player of the year award, and Celtic are showing keen interest in signing him.

Motherwell CEO Alan Burrows has expressed his reaction to the report on social networking site Twitter. He has made it clear that the club will only consider offers “significantly” higher than the club’s record transfer, which stands at £1.75m.

In another separate tweet, he responded to a fan, saying “He’s our player and we’ll only sell on our terms.”

Getting some questions re David Turnbull, given today’s newspaper report. I try not to reply to speculation (for obvious reasons), but to reiterate what I’ve already gone on public record as saying. We will only consider offers of significantly more than our record fee received.

— Alan Burrows (@Alan_Burrows) May 31, 2019

He has made it absolutely clear that any potential buyer will have to pay much more than £1.2 million to have any chance of prising Turnbull away from Fir Park in the summer transfer window.