Northern Ireland teenager Francis Turley has agreed a new four year contract with Celtic after impressing Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers in pre-season.
Turley had been due to play for Northern Ireland in the Under-19 European Championships finals this summer but was called into Celtic’s first team squad for their tour of America and now the promising 18-year-old midfielder has been handed a long term deal outlining how he is viewed at Parkhead.
The north Belfast youngster joined the Scottish champions from Glentoran in 2022 on a three year deal initially playing at Under-18 level, winning the Scottish Youth Cup and featuring for the Celtic B team.
In July Turley played for the senior side for the first time scoring in a friendly against Queen’s Park after coming off the bench.
Post match Rodgers was glowing in praise of the youngster telling Celtic TV: “There were some pleasing moments in the game, none more so than in the second half with young Francis Turley coming into the game.
“I’ve only seen him in the last few days and you can see he’s a football player. He does some wonderful things with the ball and he has a natural instinct to get into the box. I was really pleased for him in that final half hour.”
In America Turley played as a substitute for Celic in wins over DC United and Chelsea.
Under the guidance of Carnlough man Rodgers the teenage midfielder is sure to improve and will hope to make his competitive first team debut when the new season begins.