Motherwell defender Juhani Ojala says he was sold on a move to the club by former Fir Park hero and countryman Simo Valakari.
Finnish international Ojala, who has signed a two-year deal at Motherwell and goes into today's squad at St Johnstone after quarantining in a hotel for 10 days, says he was sold on the move by Valakari.
He said: "I already knew there had been many Finnish players here and I spoke with Simo Valakari, who played at Motherwell many years ago.
“He played here for four years and lived in Motherwell. He said he has very good memories of his time in Scotland.
“He spoke in a very positive way about the club.
"Simo helped with my decision.
"If he’d said something negative then I might have made a different decision but he said he liked it here. I got a positive picture of the club.
“He was my coach after my couple of seasons in Russia, when I was back in Finland for four or five months.
“He was my head coach and it was a really good period for me. I only played eight or nine games and then I got transferred to Sweden.
“I also know his son, Onni, who has been with the national team and he’s a really good player and is now with Pafos."
Ojala says he was also impressed with what Motherwell boss Graham Alexander had to say.
He said: "I like to ask around and do my homework. I also spoke with the manager and that was a very positive talk.
“The manager talked about the type of player he was looking for and it seemed a good fit for me.
“It was a good conversation."
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