Viljami Sinisalo has received further strong backing ahead of his Scottish Premiership debut this weekend, from the very player he replaced in the starting lineup at Exeter City…
Greenock Morton shotstopper Gary Woods played alongside the Finnish international at Exeter City last season, with Sinisalo on loan from Aston Villa. While Woods made only one appearance that year, the current Celtic player featured 50 times, marking a breakout campaign for the 23-year-old.
‘Viljami was fantastic with some match-winning performances’
Now a player/coach with Morton in the Scottish Championship, Woods believes Sinisalo’s potential is limitless, especially following Kasper Schmeichel’s injury. As reported by Daily Record, Woods said: “Viljami was fantastic with some match-winning performances. A really nice lad, a really good pro, works hard, wants to learn, self-critical.
“You could just see him grow in stature as the season went on, so I really wasn’t surprised when he got the move to Celtic. A good shotstopper. One of his strongest points was one-on-ones. He had a really, really good technique coming out one-on-one.”
‘I think he’s got the temperament to play for Celtic’
“Not only that, I think he’s got the temperament to play for Celtic. He backs himself and his ability. But in a good way, no arrogance. He knows he’s a good goalkeeper, but he backed it up with his performances last season.
“Viljami takes accountability also. As a goalkeeper, when things are going well it’s fine. But it’s important you can hold your hand up and go, ‘Listen, that’s on me lads’.
Woods added: “He’s a Finland international at a young age and he’s got the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky there to learn off as well, so he’s had a really good schooling.
‘At Celtic he’s got an outstanding goalie coach in Stevie Woods’
“At Celtic he’s got an outstanding goalie coach in Stevie Woods. I don’t think you can get a much better mentor than him in the goalie world. Then you’ve got Kasper Schmeichel, what a goalkeeper to learn off every day. Scott Bain as well. It’s a fantastic group of goalkeepers he’s got there that will be pushing each other every day.
“Celtic were smart to bring him in as a younger one to learn from them and build forwards – and hopefully in the future become Celtic’s number one. Would I back him to be Celtic’s number one in the future? Of the evidence that I saw in my year with him, then yeah. But only he can determine whether he becomes Celtic’s number one or not.
“He’s a really great personality, so I really hope that it does work out for him.”
Sinisalo set to start against Hearts
Since joining Celtic from Aston Villa, Sinisalo has made just one competitive appearance, which came in a 5-0 victory in the Scottish Cup against Raith Rovers. Sinisalo did play a part in Celtic’s successful USA summer tour which included wins over both Chelsea and Manchester City.
The club’s first-choice goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, picked up a shoulder injury during Denmark’s 5-3 aggregate defeat to Portugal on Sunday, and his recovery timeline remains uncertain but his international manager has already confirmed that Celtic’s Great Dane will NOT be available to play this weekend for Celtic.
Conor Spence
