AMERICAN sports legend Yogi Berra once professed: “Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.”

If the same theory applies to football, then Celtic could be on to a winner with their latest catch.

Erik Sviatchenko jetted into Scotland at the weekend to pen a four-and-a-half-year deal with the Ladbrokes Premiership champions, making him Ronny Deila’s first signing of the January transfer window.

The Dane comes with all the usual requirements that you would expect of such a signing. He has experienced league wins in his homeland, worn the captain's armband, he has come through a respected and productive youth academy and at the age of 24-years-old has already racked up four caps for his country.

It is only when you begin to delve deeper into the life of the imposing centre-half that you begin to see what lies beneath the sophisticated surface of the man brought in to anchor Celtic’s defence, and realise just how big a coup it could be to bring him to Celtic.

Brought up touring the finest art galleries and museums in the land due to his world-famous artist and architect father Sergei, the young Danish internationalist has taken a studious approach to his own career.

While making great strides on the football pitch with Midtjylland, off of it he has been preparing himself for a move that has been four years in the making for him.

Guided by a mental coach, Sviatchenko has made sure over the passing seasons that his head is in the right place for a step up in his footballing education. It is this power of the mind that he believes will give him the chance to make the most of his opportunity in Scotland.

“I’ve been practicing a lot about how to mentally prepare. I can’t prepare for anything like Celtic but I will do my best,” he said.

“I’ve been practicing that since 2012 with my mental coach. We have been preparing since for a change to a bigger club.

“Even though that didn’t succeed, I’ve had quite some offers but sometimes they came too late or my former club wouldn’t let me go because they needed me and couldn’t find a good enough replacement.

“This time finally I can say Celtic was quick enough to sign me and I was not in doubt.

“I will keep in touch with my mental coach. He’s coming here next week and we will start our 3.0 Erik Sviachenko. I speak to him once a week but it depends.

“When I have some things I want to sort out, I know what to do. I’m 24 now but when I was 19-years-old I was struggling with my identity.

“That’s quite normal for a young guy to work out where you want to play, how you want to play, who is the coach and where are you in the squad.

“Those things are quite normal for guys. I just figured out that wanted to be even better and to optimise everything I can so I’m optimising my mental awareness and health but still I’m a guy who does everything outside the pitch so I can be as prepared as possible.”

After being made aware of initial interest from the Glasgow club in the summer, the disappointment of a move not coming to fruition was not enough to deter Sviatchenko from making sure his career was not impacted in a negative manner.

Instead of dwelling on it, he continued to impress for Midtjylland, helping to guide them to their first Danish Superliga title in their history.

Now he has finally got his move to Celtic, that same hunger is already beginning to shine through.

“Winning the title was a big thing for Midtjylland,” he said. “We had been close in the past with silver and bronze medals, but my main goal is to be remembered for something.

“I don’t want to play football for the sake of it. I want to win things and that’s why I chose Celtic.

“They are a winning team and the guys who play here will be remembered for something. That’s what I want.

“Winning the title in Denmark was a big thing, but now I’m in a new place and I want to win and win trophies.”

Of course, it is worth acknowledging that Sviatchenko is a very different beast from your average footballer.

While visits to Nando’s, games of golf or hours spent in front of the telly are generally held as the top downtime activities for footballers these days, it is unlikely you will see the Danish internationalist doing much of the above.

Instead, you are more likely to catch up with him on his online fashion and photography blog, where he also models, or spending time soaking up the culture that Scotland has to offer.

“It is just an interest. Some guys like something else, I like art and fashion,” he explained. “But when I play football I play football, and when I’m out of the dressing room I like to do different things.

“We have a blog called ‘Close up and private’ where the idea is to bring a different sort of thinking of fashion photography.

“Sometimes we think it might be a bit straightforward where you stand here, we want to develop things.

“My father makes collages so it could be an arm here, I’m eating something. Sometimes it is a bit strange but we like to do things a different way. It’s just a fun interest.”

However, Sviatchenko has a chilling message for any Scottish striker who thinks they can get the better of the defender’s soft side.

“That would be mistake. I will kill them,” he said.

“They should see me play some games because they would be surprised.”