When Elijah Just signed for Motherwell from Danish side Horsens last summer, there was no huge excitement or anticipation.
The diminutive New Zealand international was unknown to most and many doubted whether his small stature would stand up to the hurly-burly of Scottish football.
Despite his international experience, he had only played one season of top-flight football since leaving New Zealand for Europe in 2019. And he was in the Austrian second division last season, on loan at SKN St Polten.
However, the 25-year-old has lit up the Scottish Premiership this term, a shining light for Jens Berthel Askou's eye-catching outfit, who are fourth in the table.
Just has been shortlisted for PFA Scotland's Premiership player of the year award - alongside team-mate Tawanda Maswanhise and Hearts duo Lawrence Shankland and Claudio Braga - an honour he did not expect.
"It's really special, not something I expected when I got the call, let alone six months or 12 months ago," he said.
"I'd bounced around a little bit in Europe, especially in some of the second leagues, so I knew coming to Scotland would be a step up.
"To be recognised is really, really humbling. It's exceeded my expectations and I just had so much fun this year."
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Fun is a word many Motherwell supporters have used to describe this team.
They are playing some of the best football ever seen at Fir Park, going toe-to-toe with Celtic, Rangers and league leaders Hearts for the majority of the campaign.
Sunday's victory at Ibrox summed up Askou's side pretty well.
They were electric in the first half, controlling the tempo and slicing through the Rangers defence with two superb team goals. Then, after Rangers had levelled, they stuck to their principles and found a winner.
Just has previously spoken about how Askou's style has evolved from a more direct approach at Horsens, where he also played under the Danish coach.
"It's one thing to talk about playing with a lot of courage and taking risks, and it's another thing to actually go out and do it, especially when you're playing against top opposition in big stadiums," Just said.
"When I moved over to Denmark, the team had just come off the back of back-to-back relegations. It was a make-or-break year for the club and it's difficult when you're trying to show what you're capable of when there is so much on the line.
"When I came to Motherwell, the rhetoric from the coaching staff was that we were going to stick to the style of play. When a team plays a certain way, I'm not going to be that useful, especially a more direct style.
"So the playing style is really important and it is difficult to find clubs that are going to play the way that suits myself."
And Motherwell's style certainly does suit Just.