John Souttar has revealed that lengthy chats with mentor Stevie Campbell helped him decide to pledge his future to Dundee United.
The 17-year-old is one of the hottest prospects at Tannadice and has been the subject of intense speculation linking him to other clubs.
English Premier League side Sunderland were one of the suitors and last month made a bid for the central defender which United accepted.
However, it was left to the player to make the decision whether to swap Tayside for Wearside and he travelled to the Stadium of Light to have a look round the facilities and to meet Black Cats officials.
Afterwards, he sat down with his family as well as United youth supremo Campbell to confirm the best course of action.
Souttar ultimately opted to stay at Tannadice and has now signed a contract extension tying him to the club until May 2016.
He said: “I went down to Sunderland with my dad and my agent. The gaffer just told me to go and see it so I did and then I sat down with the relevant people.
“Stevie Campbell was great with me throughout it all. I would speak to him about everything and he would give me advice.
“He didn’t persuade me but he was a big factor in me staying and so was (fellow youth coach) Dave Bowman.”
Souttar continued: “All the boys look up to Stevie. I would never even dream of answering back to him! Seriously, all the young players have so much respect for him.
“I would just sit down with him for an hour each day along with my dad and my family. They had a big say in it as well when I decided that it was the best thing for my football career to stay here.
“I’m delighted it’s over and done with now. It’s just good to get it signed and concentrate totally on the football, which has always been the case.
“Off the pitch, I just put it to the back of my mind. It’s been easy enough to do that, to be honest. I just let it go over my head all the talk and let other people deal with that.
“Speculation doesn’t bother me at all. It’s nice but you just focus on your football.”
Souttar signed his new deal on Monday along with fellow first-team star Ryan Gauld as well as other promising youngsters Darren Petrie and Euan Spark.
One of the reasons the defender put pen to paper was because he has been given the opportunity to play regularly in Jackie McNamara’s side with the manager selecting the youngster at Parkhead at the weekend ahead of more experienced players such as Sean Dillon and Calum Butcher.
Souttar also admitted that watching fellow youngsters move down south and be cast into the football wilderness also helped to settle his mind.
“Celtic Park is the kind of stage that you want to be at. It was in front of a big crowd which is where you want to be,” he said.
“Sometimes young players can go down south too early and maybe don’t pick the right opportunity. I just didn’t feel it was the correct time to go down.
“Not many have moved recently and broken into first teams, apart from Ryan Fraser at Bournemouth.
“I know a few boys who have gone to England but it’s either not worked out or they haven’t got into the first team as quickly as they would have liked.
“Sometimes it’s maybe not their choice to go there. They can get pushed for more money but I don’t even think about that.
“I don’t think about money at all. It just doesn’t enter my head. Instead, I just want to do the best for my career on the pitch.
“For me, the important thing is to play games and I won’t get a better opportunity to do so than at Dundee United.
“Playing every week in the SPFL gives me the chance to play against some top strikers at different clubs.”