We put out a straw poll recently on our social media channels, suggesting Scott Arfield might be Steven Gerrard’s best signing. A lot agreed, and a lot also suggested Allan McGregor, but it was another name who inspired this article.

Croat Borna Barisic was named by some as Gerrard’s best permanent deal, and this really got us thinking: are there really grounds for that, because, when you look at Barisic’s time at Ibrox, he’s arguably the best worst signing of the lot.

The good:

Thanks to his club form earlier this season, and his continuing form for his country, Barisic has been courted by Roma among others and is being monitored – his value, even in the future market this summer may be, is in the region of £15M+. If things were normal, he could easily fetch minimally what Tierney did over there (£25M).

The bad:

Now this is where it gets interesting. If we look at the above, in isolation, Barisic could be regarded as an amazing signing, a key player, and a valuable asset ready to make us big money. But when you expand the whole picture, suddenly Borna Barisic becomes a truly desperate signing.

Remember, he didn’t show an iota of form till early September AFTER that goal at St Mirren. Early September, that is, having been signed the previous year’s July. So, nearly 15 months to show form. Bad start.

And then to make matters worse he signs a new deal in January and comes back from Dubai the same player he was before September.

Barisic has been at Ibrox for almost two years now, and in those two years has shown just those three or four stonking months of form. Those turned him from a complete flop into a lucrative asset overnight.

The problem is he hasn’t sustained that form, it’s gone this year. And yet, despite that, he remains valuable and will certainly net us a sensational profit, anything up to £30M depending on bidding wars.

We know how good this guy is capable of being, but we’ve only seen barely four months of it. It’s better than nothing, certainly, but it’s isolated among a two-year spell in Glasgow. And as we say, it’s propelled his value sky high.

And that is why he’s the best worst signing Stevie made.