Viljami Sinisalo joined Celtic from Aston Villa in July, having spent six years in the system at the Birmingham club. There wasn’t a route to the first team for him under Unai Emery or in Monchi’s future plans, so an Aston Villa exit was considered best for the 22-year-old goalkeeper.
Currently settling in at Celtic, he was on the bench against Rangers at the weekend and saw his new club trounce Philippe Clement’s side 3-0.
The whole experience against Rangers has left a big impression, and the Finland international told his home country’s media about it all. Quoted by MTV Uutiset, Sinisalo said: “A completely crazy match. I’ve never experienced anything like when You’ll Never Walk Alone came on before the game and a crowd of 60,000 sang it. Celtic’s finesse is in the supporter culture and the default value that only winning is good.”
MTV Uutiset say they’ve found out from their own sources that, as well as Celtic, multiple clubs were interested in taking the stopper away from Aston Villa this summer.
When answering that point, Sinisalo made clear just how happy he is to have signed for the Scottish Premiership club: “All I’m saying, when Celtic was a concrete option, you didn’t have to think about it many times. We are talking about one of the biggest football clubs in the world, and such an opportunity does not come up many times in a career, if ever.
“After the way those five years were described to me, it would have been stupid not to get involved.”
By that he means the career plan Celtic have put on the table for him.
Sinisalo is convinced he’ll be the club’s successor to Kasper Schmeichel, and is looking forward to the big things ahead: “The pattern is pretty much as simple as it looks. Even at the age of 38, Kasper is still a top goalkeeper, who signed a one-year contract, which seems to include the club’s option for an additional year, but the plan is very far on that I will be Celtic’s future number one. I have to be ready for that.
“You have to be realistic. You don’t jump directly from League One (where he was on loan at Exeter City) to become Celtic’s starting goalkeeper, but I already know that this season the responsibility is coming. Certainly even more next season. If I’m Celtic’s number one keeper at the age of 24-25, I’ve succeeded in my plan, and after that we’ll talk about a little bigger things.”
Asked about his start to life at Celtic, Sinisalo was able to bring up the Rangers victory: “The beginning has been great. And best of all, we took a big derby win at the weekend. As I’ve said before, you don’t necessarily realise how massive a football club is until you get there.”
That’s one very happy new Celtic signing, then.
