Jonah Ayunga revealed a word in his ear from a former St Mirren fan favourite helped persuade him to move to Paisley.
The summer recruit joined the Buddies from English League One side Morecambe, linking up with Stephen Robinson for the second time.
Last season the forward lined up alongside ex-Saints striker Jon Obika in the Shrimps front line.
And Anyunga insists the positive words Obika had to say about his eventful two-year spell in the stripes played a big part in him making the move north.
Speaking exclusively to Renfrewshire Live Sport, Ayunga said: “When the possibility of joining St Mirren came up, I spoke to Jon about the club.
“He had nothing but good things to say about St Mirren.
“He told me he loved his time here, the fans were incredible and he said the league was very strong too.
“That made my decision an awful lot easier.
“You get a lot of exposure playing in Scotland, especially against the likes of Celtic and Rangers. Those are massive games and I’m looking forward to trying to make my mark in them.”
Ayunga was made aware of St Mirren’s main aim for this season immediately by his former gaffer Robinson after joining on a two-year deal.
The 25-year-old former Brighton and Hove Albion forward says he and his new teammates also have other targets they’re currently keeping close to their chest.
Ayunga said: “We’ve got aims for this season that we’ll keep inside the dressing room.
"Getting into the top six is our main goal though, everybody knows that.
“The manager made it clear when I joined that that was the target because the club hasn’t achieved it in such a long time.”
While football is his undeniable passion now, Ayunga’s sporting career could have steered him down a very different and faster track.
When still at school in England, he was part of the GB team bobsleigh set-up and was close to progressing in the much less mainstream sport.
But once his football career started to take off, there was no going back for the flying forward.
Ayunga added: “When I was in year 11 at school I had the chance to go with the GB team to Austria for trials.
“I competed against all the different levels of GB teams and it was a great experience.
“I wasn’t playing football at a great level at that point in my life so it definitely could have all been different for me.
“In the end I was picked up by Brighton and from then on my life was purely focused on football.”
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