David Turnbull given new Celtic lease of life as boss Brendan Rodgers says 'it's up to him' to earn new deal

David Turnbull has been given a new lease of life at Celtic with a manager who believes in him, but insists he’s not thinking about his future.

The 24-year-old spent much of last season on the bench under Ange Postecoglou, but Brendan Rodgers has brought him immediately back into the fold.

That paid dividends for both, with Turnbull scoring twice in Celtic’s 4-2 home win over Ross County to kick off the defence of their Premiership title.

Former Motherwell midfielder Turnbull, from Wishaw, is out of contract next summer and has made it clear that he wants to stay at Celtic – and Rodgers has urged him to play his way into a new deal.

Turnbull said: “I’m up for that challenge. I’m not thinking about it just now, I’m just going to play my football, try my best in every game and what will be will be.

“We’ll need to wait and see. I’m just focusing on my game, but of course I want to stay here.

“The County game was a big opportunity for me and I took it. To get two goals and a good result for the team always helps. The better I play, the better the team play, the happier I’ll be.

“It feels like a new lease of life for me, and long may that continue.

“Last season was tough, I had a few niggles at the start of the season and didn’t get as many opportunities as I would have liked – but hopefully I can put that right.”

Turnbull added: “My chats with the manager when he came in were good, really interesting.

“It was nice of him to come up and speak to me. He put an arm around me and told me he believes in me.

“I’m trying to take on board his ideas and impress him as much as I can.”

Rodgers said: “That’s the responsibility of the player. David is a talent, he maybe hasn’t quite hit the heights of what his talent is.

“I spoke to him