Barnsley have replaced a goalkeeper bound for the Champions League with a stopper who has a winners' medal from Europe's top club competition.
A week after Luke Steele moved to Panathinaikos, the Reds brought in Ross Turnbull – who was on the bench for Chelsea's 2012 Champions League win – for a third spell at Oakwell.
"Everybody is familiar with Ross and the quality he has got," said manager Danny Wilson, whose other two 'keepers, Adam Davies and Christian Dibble, have never played a Football League game.
"We're quite fortunate to have secured his services. He's got great experience, his distribution is fantastic and he's a real big lad. We think a lot of Christian Dibble and Adam Davies has had a fantastic tour of Italy but, with Luke Steele leaving, we felt we needed the experience. The competition for goalkeepers will be quite intense which is great."
Turnbull has signed a two-year-deal with the Reds. The 29-year-old former England youth international played three games for Barnsley on loan from boyhood club Middlesbrough – where he worked with Reds goalkeeping coach Mark Crossley – in the 2003/04 season then returned the following campaign for 24 matches.
Wilson said: "He did very well when he was here last time and that was a massive influence on the deal. He knows the club and he's fitted straight back in."
After his second spell with Barnsley, Turnbull spent the next season at Crewe then had a brief spell at Cardiff before establishing himself in Middlesbrough's Premier League team in 2008/09 and earning a move to Chelsea. In his four years at Stamford Bridge, Turnbull played just 19 games but did pick up a Champions League winner's medal as an unused substitute in 2012. He left the Blues last summer and signed a one-year deal with Doncaster, playing 31 games and saving a Chris O'Grady penalty in a 0-0 draw at Oakwell in November. Return: Ross Turnbull.
