Max Kucheriavyi has been modelling St Johnstone’s new training gear for the club’s website.
And making sure he gets to wear the match kit on a regular basis is the young midfielder’s main goal for the new season.
Kucheriavyi has progressed his career with every loan – Brechin City, Kelty Hearts and then Scottish Cup semi-finalists, Falkirk.
All of those spells away from Perth have been with making the final big leap at McDiarmid Park in mind.
Now that there’s a new manager to impress, the 21-year-old is hoping to seize his pre-season opportunity and establish himself as a first team player at last.
“I will work as hard as I always do and we will see how it goes,” said Kucheriavyi.
“I have spoken to Steven MacLean a couple of times but I prefer to keep that private.
“I think it will be really enjoyable working with the new manager. I’m looking forward to getting started with him in charge.
“You could tell that one day he would become the number one, for sure. You could just tell when you saw him day by day.
“He wants the best from everyone and he always wants to be the best version of himself too. He works hard at everything he does.”
He added: “It is always about progress – being better as a player and as a team.
“It is exciting to get back, play football again and see everyone. I hope it will be an enjoyable season.
“It is the goal of every player to break into the team as soon as possible.
“It was hard in my first year but, in my second year, I felt I could compete for a place.
“Last season, I didn’t play anywhere near as much as I would’ve liked to, unfortunately.
“You always expect to play a little more after playing against the best team in the country (a game against Celtic was Kucheriavyi’s only Premiership start) and not looking out of place.
“But I respect any decision a manager makes.”
More strings to his bow
Kucheriavyi’s latest loan expanded his positional repertoire and gave him big-game, experience.
“It was nice to play a lot of games at Brechin,” said Kucheriavyi. “Then I went to Kelty and we managed to win the league. It is always good to win something.
“The full-time loan at Falkirk was also really enjoyable. It was just nice to play football.
“The Scottish Cup run was something I enjoyed the most.
“Getting to the semi-final with a team from League One does not happen every year.
“It was a really good experience to play at Hampden.
“I played deeper in midfield and a position I had never played before. I was learning a lot.
“It was something new and it is always nice to find out new things about yourself.
“You play anywhere the manager says but I do enjoy playing higher up in the midfield.
“But it depends how the team plays because you can enjoy many different positions.”
Kucheriavyi is still eligible to play under-21 international football, which is another target for the season, having previously scored on his debut in a friendly against Israel.
“I had a couple of good performances but, unfortunately, I was not called up in March or this summer for the Euros,” he said.
“Maybe it was because I went on loan to a League One team, I don’t know.
“Hopefully if I play consistently I can get called up again because it is always a big honour to represent your country.
“It is a great feeling to play for the national team and I would love to experience it again.”
