Viljami Sinisalo has revealed his regular Celtic chats with John McGinn.
The pair were teammates at Aston Villa, where Sinisalo spent six years before making the move to Glasgow.
After 18 months as number two, the Finland international is now firmly in the spotlight as he fills in for Kasper Schmeichel, who has suffered a career-threatening injury.
It’s been some week for McGinn, who secured Europa League success as captain of Villa — Sinisalo discussed him with the media on Friday.
Will John McGinn ever play for Celtic in his career?
Viljami Sinisalo: John McGinn gave me the lowdown on Celtic
Sinisalo said of McGinn: “Initially, when I signed, I spoke to him about it, and he gave us a little lowdown of what to expect about being a Celtic player in Glasgow.
“There have been messages when I’ve gone in the team, and we swapped a few messages here and there. He’s been brilliant with me.
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“He was at Villa when I was there and he’s gone on to do amazing things in his career. Hopefully, I can do some of the things that he’s achieved.
He was delighted to see his former club’s Euro success in Istanbul on Wednesday, saying: “I did watch it, actually.
“I thought they were excellent. Genuinely, I’m so happy for John.
“Me and him actually signed the same summer. I was obviously an under-16 and no one had a clue who I was. He’d came from Hibs.
“He’s seen a lot of things happening at that football club from the Championship and now to be a European cup winner is special. He’s a great man, and you wouldn’t wish it to a better man.”
Finally, ahead of Celtic’s Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline this weekend, he said: “It’s what you come to clubs like this for. You want to win.
“You want to be labelled as a winner. Not just a winner, but a serial winner. You want to be that. And there are a lot of people in that changing room that are that, which definitely helped us get over the line in the league.
Has he done enough?
“You’re playing for a massive football club where every game, you’re scrutinised, and every game, you need to win, and there’s that pressure on you.
“And it’s a privilege, it really is, to be a part of something like that.
“Ultimately, you want to be part of something successful, and that’s what we are trying to do. We’ve done it in the league, and hopefully now we can try and do that on Saturday.”
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