Tobi Oluwayemi watched Kasper Schmeichel turn in a Champions League masterclass this week – and hopes Dunfermline can help him emulate his Celtic colleague.
Oluwayemi, who is on a season-long loan from the Hoops, dreams of one day starring on the biggest stages himself.
Still just 21, he knows he has a long way to go to be able to come up with the kind of brilliantly defiant performance Schmeichel produced against Bayern Munich in midweek.
But Oluwayemi reckons that, in the great Dane and Celtic predecessors Joe Hart and Fraser Forster, he has the perfect mentors.
“He’s a different level, different class,” said Oluwayemi of Schmeichel. “Every time I turn on TV to watch him he’s pulling out saves, he’s helping them in build-up.
“He’s a leader and he’s an example for goalkeepers.
“He’s there in the big moments, never shies away, takes risks, does what he needs to do – and does more than he needs to do.
“So he’s a great watch as a goalkeeper.
“I’ve worked with some great goalies. When I was younger, Fraser Forster was there [at Celtic].
“That was the first time I’d really worked with a first-team goalkeeper. He was doing brilliant things at the time as well.
‘Opened my eyes’
“Then Joe Hart came in and that opened my eyes to the elite of the elite and how they work and how they operate.
“Then Kasper came in who has won the Premier League as well.
“You just get to see up close and personal how they operate, how they think, what they do and how they’ve gotten to where they’ve gotten.”
He added: “I think like any other aspiring footballer, I want to get to the highest level possible. The only way I can do that is by focusing on what I’m doing now.
“The only thing that’s important to me is how I play this weekend.”
For Dunfermline that means the visit of Queen’s Park and the hunt for crucial points in their bid to escape a relegation play-off.
A first clean sheet in the league since November in last weekend’s goalless draw with Livingston was a positive, especially for Oluwayemi and his defensive colleagues.
But the former Tottenham Hotspur trainee insists he is also revelling in being a key starting point for the Pars’ attacks in new boss Michael Tidser’s passing game-plan.
“It’s good,” he said of his added responsibility to play out from the back. “There’s a lot more thinking, a lot more touches as a goalkeeper and defensive players.
“But I think you do also reap the rewards and get overloads higher up the pitch and hopefully you can hurt teams.
“You play this type of football to create chances and to be effective, not just for style.”
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