Six best Scottish Premiership signings this season - Celtic snip, Rangers deadeye, Hearts and Hibs favourites

With the Scottish Premiership entering its final few months of the campaign, enough football has been played to accurately assess the six best signings across the season ...

Aaron Mooy (Celtic)

There were presumptions made about the 31-year-old Australian midfielder when he was enlisted on a free transfer in July. It appeared then his Celtic move was a case of former international manager Ange Postecoglou acquiring handy cover. For the anchor role in his set-up. Fast forward eight months and Mooy has become an integral creative presence for the Scottish champions. Indeed, the Premiership leaders simply didn’t have the same fluency or vibrancy in the final third in his absence through injury as they dug-out a 3-1 at home to Hibs.

As he struggled for fitness over his early months he appeared lumbering - a consequence of cutting short his time with previous club Shanghai SIPG. Since excelling for his nation in the World Cup, he has become an attacking fulcrum opponents struggle to shackle. Sleek and smart in his finishing and ability to make and craft openings, Mooy’s past 11 starts have yielded seven goals and, coupled with 10 assists, have turned him into a darling of his club’s support.

Aaron Mooy has developed into a key player for Celtic despite a low-key summer arrival. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Antonio Colak (Rangers)

In light of the travails that have befallen so many Rangers arrivals from last summer, it could be considered faint praise to state that the Colak’s worth has been head-and-shoulders beyond any other signing made by the now-departed Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Instead, the £1.8m capture from Greek club POAK should be recognised as the cleanest finisher the Ibrox side have had at their disposal since taking promotion to the top flight in 2016-17. But for essentially losing two months to a calf injury across the turn of the year it would not be a stretch to suggest the 29-year-old Croatian would be on course to eclipse the 30-goal Rangers return from Alfredo Morelos in 2017-18.

As it stands, Colak has found the net 17 times in only 36 appearances, his lethal penalty-box sniffing evidenced as he immediately settled now being bolstered by improved link-up play since Michael Beale’s arrival four months ago. His goals were crucial to Rangers bringing Champions League football to Ibrox for the first time in 11 years and though he can drift out of games, with his contributions he has more than repaid his modest fee.

Duk (Aberdeen)

Luis Lopes - or Duk as he is known - celebrates one of his 13 goals for Aberdeen following his summer arrival from Benfica. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)

The low hum of Duuuuuuuuk that has regularly echoed around the stands at Pittodrie this season has been the soundtrack to the brighter moments of an often bleak season for Aberdeen. The Jim Goodwin era ultimately may have been a failed one, but his recruitment of Luis Lopes - to give the Portuguese forward his Sunday name he doesn’t want known by - for a bargain £400,000 from Benfica could turn out to be reason to give thanks for the Irishman’s presence.

An electric performer in every respect, his dancing feet and rapid coverage of the ground has made him one of the most captivating performers in the Scottish game. His wriggling run and outrageously audacious back-heel that allowed him to produce a goal out of nothing in the win over Dundee United the other week the dazzling Duk in a nutshell. If there is one grain of criticism to be attached to him is that, so considerable do his talents appear, 13 goals seems an under-par total in his current environment.

Lawrence Shankland (Hearts)

So central to everything that has been good about Hearts this season has the Scottish striker proved, it can be easy to forget he only arrived at Tynecastle from Belgian club Beershot in August. The fact he was handed the captaincy after Craig Gordon was lost to a double leg-break on Christmas Eve is a measure of his influence. As a forward it is natural to home in on his scoring, not least because his 21 goal haul - from 38 appearances - has allowed him to become the first Hearts player to break the 20 mark for a season since John Robertson in 1991-92.

Alright, it can’t be ignored he has been fortunate that Hearts have had a happy knack for earning penalties in this campaign, 11 of his goals from the spot. However, as he has proved courtesy of two stonking open-play counters across the Edinburgh derby encounters and all-round intelligent forward play, he has not been simply reliant on penalty awards to produce crucial game-changing moments.

David Marshall (Hibs)

The importance of a reliable goalkeeper can fail to be fully appreciated because such solidity can blind to the costliness of the alternative. So often in recent years have Hibs been undermined by that alternative that it has almost seemed as if the goalkeeping position at the Easter Road club has placed those fulfilling the role under some sort of curse.

It feels then that Marshall has performed a form of exorcism in consistently proving able to pull off big saves - as has been an unerring ability of the 38-year-old throughout a footballing odyssey that forever will be associated with his penalty shoot-out heroics in Serbia in 2020 that ended Scotland’s two-decade wait for a major finals appearance. However his current form gives rise the impression that there remains ample mileage in Marshall’s playing career.

Ryan Strain (St Mirren)

The energy and engine of the Australian right wing-back has been central to the Paisley club’s powerful home form - the best in the top flight beyond Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen and Hearts. And the 25-year-old’s international call-up this week (as a replacement for the injured Aaron Mooy) indicates how his performances have been received outwith these borders since his arrival in Scotland last June, which followed a two-year stint with Israeli side Maccabi Haifa.

His rampaging runs down the right and balls into the box have been a key attacking weapon for Stephen Robinson’s men, with Strain responsible for five assists. His ball-striking prowess has also claimed him two direct free-kick strikes - away to Ross County in November and at home to Hearts in January - as he becomes a celebrated performer for the St Mirren faithful.