A text from John McGinn helped secure Viljami Sinisalo's move to Ayr United back in 2020.
The Celtic goalkeeper, who is reportedly 'set' to make his league debut this weekend against Heart of Midlothian, joined the Somerset Park side on loan from Aston Villa as a teenager.
Sinisalo made 29 appearances for Ayr before subsequent temporary spells away from Villa at Burton Albion and Exeter City.
Mark Kerr initially brought the stopper to United and revealed how a message from Scotland star McGinn convinced him to secure Sinisalo's services.
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He said [Record]: "The deal came about through Willo Flood. He knew one of the scouts down there and then when his name came up I texted John McGinn.
"John said he was training with the Villa first team every day and he was a cracking boy with a lot of ability.
"He said he would do a decent job. Viljami was still only 18-years-old at the time, so we brought him up to train and to have a look, only because he was so young.
"He really made an impression. He was a big lad but agile and you could tell he would be different class.
"To be fair, it was a difficult period during the covid season. It was so bad for everyone. We’d lost lots of players and the ones coming in were stuck in the house.
"It was tough for him but he was a great lad, who chucked himself right into it. He did really well for us.
"There was the odd wee mistake, the kind you expect from young players, but the great thing was that he didn’t let it affect him and he would learn from them.
"He did so well he ended up getting called up for Finland while he was with us."
The now 23-year-old has made just one Celtic appearance to date, which came in a 5-0 Scottish Cup victory over Raith Rovers at the beginning of last month.
It looks as though he will now be thrust into Premiership action this weekend, with uncertainty reigning over Kasper Schmeichel's fitness after he picked up an injury with Denmark.
