Celtic have other targets, says John Kennedy as David Turnbull nears Norwich move

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'New Celtic signings in the next couple of weeks'

Celtic have other targets to pursue says assistant manager John Kennedy as Motherwell midfielder David Turnbull nears a move to Norwich City.

The Scottish champions had a bid accepted for the 19-year-old but could not agree personal terms.

And now Norwich have had a £3.25m offer for the player accepted.

"Not everything works out, so we've got to move on and do business elsewhere," Kennedy said. "It's one where you don't just put all your eggs in one basket.

"We're a club who obviously have a lot of big players who come in at different stages of their career. But one thing we always look for is young players that we can develop, make better and improve. Whether that's in-house from our own academy or we bring in, like Ryan Christie from Inverness, Kristoffer Ajer or Odsonne Edouard from PSG.

"They're all young players who needed the game time and needed the right platform to develop and become proper players. We thought David could have been one of them. But there are a number of players like that around."

Neil Lennon, who was made permanent manager after helping the club complete a third straight domestic treble, since starting his second spell in charge after Brendan Rodgers joined Leicester City in February.

Dedryck Boyata, Cristian Gamboa and Emilio Izaguirre are among those to have left the club, while long-serving right-back Mikael Lustig is still considering his options as he nears the end of his contract.

Lee Congerton left the role of Celtic head of recruitment to follow Rodgers to Leicester last month and Kennedy played down suggestions the lack of a replacement for Congerton was delaying transfer business.

"Things are still functioning as normal," he explained. "What heads of recruitment do, they come in and do what's right for the manager and the club.

"They don't come in and do things their own way. They have a view, an opinion, but ultimately they have to go out and sign players which suit the manager's style, the club's structure.

"We're a terrific club with a proven record of developing talents, young players. Ryan Christie, Kristoffer Ajer, Odsonne Edouard - they're all young players who need the game time, need the right platform to develop and become proper players. We thought David could be one of them, but there's a number of players like that around.

"We've got a number of targets and, if it's not right for us, we need to move on to our next target and that's what we aim to do. If he goes and signs for Norwich, good luck to him. He's a good player, talented player.

"Everybody knows we need to get a few fresh faces in to help the squad that's currently here. It's difficult to put a number on that."

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