Whilst Kasper Schmeichel’s injury takes all the headlines, not much has been said today about his likely stand-in. With Schmeichel’s sensational form, you could almost be forgiven for forgetting that Celtic signed two goalkeepers last summer.
Not to be Underestimated
To many, he’s an unknown quantity, but I believe we’re all in for a pleasant surprise over the next few weeks, if Viljami Sinisalo, our new backup keeper is called into action.
Sinisalo Has Been Down This Road Before
Viljami Sinisalo knows a thing or two about being thrust into the limelight. Despite still being only 23 years old, he is now in his 8th season as a professional goalkeeper.
An injury crisis at his first senior club, his hometown team of Espoo, meant that he made his professional debut at just 15 years of age. Despite his youth, he went on to cement his place as the first choice keeper at the Finnish 3rd tier side.
This led to Steve Bruce’s decision to bring him into Aston Villa’s youth set up just over a year later.
Following in Schmeichel’s Footsteps
Initially, the young Sinisalo excelled for Villa’s under 18s, and later their under 23s team. However, Bruce knew the young Finn needed genuine, competitive league football to truly test himself.
This led to him going, of all places, to Ayr United in 2020, where he played 22 games before injury cut his loan deal short.
The parallels between this, and a young Kasper Schmeichel turning out for Falkirk back in the day are obvious.
Moving up a Level
Having proven himself in the Scottish Championship, Sinisalo’s next test would be the challenge of League One, England’s third tier.
Initially, he joined Burton Albion, however, when he failed to displace their established goalkeeper, he was recalled to Villa after only 4 appearances over a period of three and a half months.
However, his next move, would take him to St. James’ Park (no not that one).
Player of the Year: A Star in The Making
I refer of course to the lesser-known St. James Park, home of Exeter City, another League One side. Sinisalo joined The Grecians on a one year loan deal, and his impact was immediate.
Keeping a clean sheet on his debut against Wycombe Wanderers, Sinisalo would go on to notch up 15 clean sheets over his 40 games for Exeter. Not bad numbers for a team that is hardly a big fish in League One.
At the end of the season, he took home the player’s player of the year award and the fans player of the year award, as well as 4 other honours from the club’s end of season event.
Exeter City wanted to keep him, but Sinisalo, was destined for bigger things.
Celtic Come Calling
Amidst all this, Sinisalo also earned his first call up to the Finnish National Team. He has subsequently played 3 times for Finland, in addition to his 14 caps at under 21 level.
A move to a bigger club, with higher ambitions was inevitable, and in the end, that club was Celtic. He joined us from Aston Villa on a permanent deal last summer.
From what I hear, Villa fans who followed the club’s youth teams were not happy that Sinisalo was let go, especially for a fee believed to be only around 1 million pounds.
The New Number One? Not Yet
In the early weeks of last summer, with Joe Hart retiring, the Celtic support were unsure what to make of this signing. He seemed too good to just be a backup, but also probably not yet quite ready for the rigors of The Champions League.
In the end, Kasper Schmeichel signed soon after, so that particular debate was laid to rest.
Only One Competitive Game So Far
I speculated on ACSOM last autumn that Sinisalo might be our “cup keeper” with a view to him getting some experience ahead of, in the fullness of time, replacing Kasper Schmeichel.
In the end though, Brendan Rodgers decided to go with Schmeichel for our League Cup campaign. This proved a wise choice, as his penalty save in the final showed.
Sinisalo had to wait until February for his debut, a routine win over Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup where, in all honesty, he was barely tested.
A Good Time to Come in
There is of course no good time to lose your first-choice goalkeeper, especially one as influential as big Kasper. However, if, as I suspect, he’s missing for a few weeks, then it’s the perfect platform for Sinisalo.
We will, hopefully, win the league over the next month or so, and depending on how the post-split fixtures shake out, the young Finn may even get to follow in his hero Antii Niemi’s steps and play at Ibrox, although this time for the good guys!
It's the perfect platform for an ambitious and capable goalkeeper like Sinisalo. Kasper will be a big loss, obviously, but I’m genuinely excited to see what our other Scandinavian keeper can do.
Viljami Sinisalo has earned his shot at being Celtic’s number 1, and I hope he takes it.