SigningLab · Annual Report

Signing Accuracy — Premiership 2023/24

Published on January 8, 2024

Executive Summary

130
Real signings
125
Evaluated
32%
Clubs' average hit rate
30
Successful
67
Unsuccessful

In total we identified 130 real signings by the clubs of Premiership in the 2023/24 season — academy promotions, loan returns, internal moves and transfers that never went through are excluded. Of these, 125 are included in the hit-rate calculation; 5 are youth investments (under-23 with no game time), classified separately. Signings without relevant minutes in the season count as unsuccessful.

Club Ranking

ClubLeague positionSigningsEvaluatedSuccessfulFairUnsuccessfulHit rate %
1Heart Of Midlothian66312
58%
2Rangers1111434
50%
3Hibernian99414
50%
4Kilmarnock1010325
40%
5Livingston12º54031
38%
6Dundee1514347
36%
7ST Mirren77214
36%
8Aberdeen1110316
35%
9Ross County10º1010235
35%
10ST Johnstone11º1010316
35%
11Motherwell1313256
35%
12Celtic109135
28%
13Raith Rovers14º77007
0%
14Partick13º43003
0%
15Airdrie United15º22002
0%

The difference between Signings and Evaluated are youth investments (under-23 with no game time in the season), classified separately. Signings without relevant minutes are unsuccessful (Did not deliver).

Season Highlights

The ten signings with the greatest technical impact of the season, according to the Player Impact Score (PIS).

PlayerClubPosMinG+AAvg ratingRating
Thelonius BairMotherwellF266915+66.89Excellent
Abdallah SimaRangersF162111+27.29Excellent
Marley WatkinsKilmarnockM27839+36.94Excellent
Myziane MaolidaHibernianF138410+27.14Excellent
Mika BierethMotherwellF10216+57.19Excellent
Joe ShaughnessyDundeeD28454+17.04Excellent
Jamie McGrathAberdeenM26599+16.87Excellent
Frankie KentHeart Of MidlothianD31500+47.07Excellent
Matthew KennedyKilmarnockM27533+36.87Excellent
Stefan GartenmannAberdeenD29513+07.08Excellent

Methodology

Club assessment — the universe of signings

The report considers exclusively genuine signings for the first-team squad, identified by the player's effective incorporation into the group between seasons. Excluded from the universe are: academy promotions, loan returns, internal administrative moves and transfers recorded but never completed. The aim is to measure the quality of market decisions — and those alone.

Player Impact Score (PIS)

Each evaluated signing receives a score from 0 to 100 that combines four observable technical dimensions: individual performance (average match ratings over the season), output (goals, assists and decisive actions adjusted for game time), collective performance (starting status and correlation with the club's results) and availability (volume of matches, adjusted for interruptions). High-impact players with reduced game time are promoted through an alternative efficiency criterion.

Outcome classification

The rating tiers are: Excellent and Good (successful signings — a full point in the index), Fair (intermediate performance — half a point) and Below expectations / Did not deliver (unsuccessful signings). Two categories sit outside the calculation, for distinct reasons: Injury (a serious injury prevented a fair assessment) and Investment (an under-23 player with low game time — the return depends on development and cannot be counted for or against the club in this cycle). Signings that did not reach relevant game time in the season are classified as unsuccessful, reflecting the sporting cost of the decision.

A note on scope

This is SigningLab's public, simplified model, developed for transparent retrospective market assessment. SigningLab's commercial solutions for partner clubs use a substantially larger set of variables and dedicated predictive mechanisms, and are not fully reflected in this document.

Appendix — Signings by club

* Youth investment (under-23, no game time in the season) — outside the hit-rate calculation.

Aberdeen (11 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Nicky Devlin38320521Good
Stefan Gartenmann33295130Excellent
Jamie McGrath35265991Excellent
Richard Jensen35211701Below expectations
Slobodan Rubežić23142800Did not deliver
Junior Hoilett1483227Fair
Ester Sokler3872912Below expectations
James McGarry2157800Did not deliver
Ross Doohan389000Did not deliver
Pape Habib Gueye157500Did not deliver
Rhys Williams *0000Investment

Airdrie United (2 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Josh O'Connor0000Did not deliver
Murray Aiken0000Did not deliver

Celtic (10 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Luis Palma32150179Good
Yang Hyun-Jun2995213Fair
Paulo Bernardo3390833Below expectations
Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn1678222Fair
Maik Nawrocki1961600Did not deliver
Adam Idah1560882Fair
Gustaf Lagerbielke941600Did not deliver
Nathaniel Phillips1231500Did not deliver
Benjamin Siegrist1000Did not deliver
Hyeok-kyu Kwon *6000Investment

Dundee (15 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Amadou Bakayoko38284765Excellent
Joe Shaughnessy33284541Excellent
Malachi Boateng37232201Fair
Trevor Carson26225000Fair
Juan Portales22182221Good
Mohammad Sylla36158402Below expectations
Scott Tiffoney34150732Fair
Ricky Lamie24137011Below expectations
Jon McCracken16108000Did not deliver
Dara Costelloe1777602Fair
Curtis Main1747200Did not deliver
Ryan Howley2030200Did not deliver
Ryan Astley2020300Did not deliver
Charlie Reilly *1110300Investment
Barry Maguire0000Did not deliver

Heart Of Midlothian (6 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Frankie Kent36315004Excellent
Kenneth Vargas35193062Good
Calem Nieuwenhof26185912Good
Dexter Lembikisa1798920Fair
Alexander Lowry1773001Did not deliver
Kyosuke Tagawa3146820Did not deliver

Hibernian (9 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Jordan Obita35279510Good
Dylan Vente33200353Good
Dylan Levitt35140922Below expectations
Myziane Maolida181384102Excellent
Emiliano Marcondes16117430Good
Adam Le Fondre2799951Fair
Luke Amos912600Did not deliver
Riley Harbottle136500Did not deliver
Maksymilian Boruc85700Did not deliver

Kilmarnock (10 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Will Dennis37319500Good
Marley Watkins36278393Excellent
Matthew Kennedy36275333Excellent
Robbie Deas34218010Fair
Corrie Ndaba28185410Fair
Kyle Magennis856200Did not deliver
Kieran O'Hara3722500Did not deliver
Kevin van Veen1515801Did not deliver
Gary Mackay-Steven2215410Did not deliver
Mark Birighitti1000Did not deliver

Livingston (5 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Michael Devlin30237101Fair
Michael Nottingham26197900Fair
Daniel MacKay27110211Fair
Mohammed Sangare36102711Did not deliver
Kieran Wright *43300Investment

Motherwell (13 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Thelonius Bair382669156Excellent
Davor Zdravkovski38160010Did not deliver
Brodie Spencer18149801Fair
Mika Biereth14102165Excellent
Jack Vale1479522Fair
Conor Wilkinson1766831Fair
Andy Halliday1260211Fair
Sam Nicholson1757920Fair
Adam Devine1250310Below expectations
Oli Shaw2838102Did not deliver
Pape Souaré418400Did not deliver
Jili Buyabu4000Did not deliver
Aston Oxborough38000Did not deliver

Partick (4 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Lewis Neilson *0000Investment
Scott Robinson0000Did not deliver
Kerr Mcinroy0000Did not deliver
Blair Alston0000Did not deliver

Raith Rovers (7 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Jack Hamilton0000Did not deliver
Joshua Mullin0000Did not deliver
Shaun Byrne0000Did not deliver
Maciej Dabrowski0000Did not deliver
Keith Watson0000Did not deliver
Esmael Goncalves0000Did not deliver
William Akio0000Did not deliver

Rangers (11 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Jack Butland38342000Good
Cyriel Dessers382286164Excellent
Abdallah Sima251621112Excellent
Dujon Sterling32127502Below expectations
Fábio Silva19101440Good
Mohammed Diomande1394720Fair
Sam Lammers2085222Below expectations
José Cifuentes1657501Did not deliver
Danilo1253041Fair
Kieran Dowell1649422Below expectations
Oscar Cortés631811Fair

Ross County (10 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Ryan Leak33287000Good
James Brown36227812Fair
William Nightingale22172300Fair
Eli King15117502Good
Loick Ayina18103500Did not deliver
Scott Allardice1391500Fair
Kyle Turner1968611Below expectations
Teddy Jenks1046000Did not deliver
Jay Henderson2913300Did not deliver
Scott High82500Did not deliver

ST Johnstone (10 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Dimitar Mitov38342000Good
Luke Robinson32285402Good
Matthew Smith36263113Good
Dara Costelloe1679410Did not deliver
Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka1867930Fair
Connor Smith1746510Did not deliver
Luke Jephcott1729300Did not deliver
Jay Turner-Cooke1722300Did not deliver
Kerr Smith814500Did not deliver
Dave Richards37000Did not deliver

ST Mirren (7 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Zachary Hemming38342000Good
Mikael Mandron36202783Excellent
Conor McMenamin30176911Fair
James Bolton36127210Did not deliver
Hyeok-kyu Kwon1055200Did not deliver
Alex Greive2144720Below expectations
James Scott1635410Did not deliver