Best players to move from Scotland to the Premier League

When thinking of where the best Premier League imports have come from, Scotland might not be the first country to come to mind.

But over the years a number of players have made the move south of the border to join the Premier League and went on to make a lasting impact in the competition.

Below we look at the 10 best players to make the move from Scotland to the Premier League.

10 - Kieran Tierney

Winning a litany of individual and collective honours with Celtic as a youngster, Kieran Tierney earned a move to the Premier League with Arsenal.

Despite joining a team very much in transition, Tierney has gone on to make 104 Premier League appearances for the Gunners.

9 - Duncan Ferguson

When compiling a list of Premier League hard men, the likes of Roy Keane, Vinnie Jones and Stuart Pearce would all feature, but Duncan Ferguson ranks number one.

It would be unfair to label Ferguson has someone who could bully defenders and little more, however.

Signing for Everton in 1994, Ferguson would go on to make 269 Premier League appearances, scoring 68 goals across spells on Merseyside and with Newcastle.

8 - Antti Niemi

While his excellent form at Hearts wasn’t quite enough to earn him a call-up to the Scotland squad, it did earn Antti Niemi a move to the Premier League.

Signed by Southampton, Niemi impressed for three years in the Premier League before their relegation in 2005.

The Finland international spent half a season in the second tier before returning to the Premier League with Fulham.

7 - Barry Ferguson

One of the best players in the league in the early 2000s, Barry Ferguson wasn’t quite able to bring his form with him to the Premier League upon signing for Blackburn. But after a second spell in Scotland, the midfielder returned to England with Birmingham City.

While Celtic and Rangers fans might argue who the superior midfielder was between Scott Brown and Ferguson, Ferguson adapted to English football in a way Brown likely couldn’t.

Ferguson was excellent for the Blues, winning the League Cup and the club’s Player of the Year in the first two of two superb seasons at St Andrew’s.

6 - David Weir

After two-and-a-half years with Hearts, David Weir was signed by an Everton side battling relegation.

Although made captain under Walter Smith, it wasn’t until the arrival of David Moyes that Everton climbed the table, with Weir making 34 starts as a 34-year-old en route to a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League

5 - Stiliyan Petrov

One of the best Celtic players of his generation, Stiliyan Petrov was part of the Bhoys’ run to the UEFA Cup final in 2003, eventually earning a move to Aston Villa.

There was no trouble adapting to English football with Petrov a key part of the Villa side that finished sixth three years running, twice being named the club’s Players’ Player of the Year.

4 - Mark Viduka

There’s an argument to say that Mark Viduka might have been the greatest Australian to play in the Premier League, and amongst Harry Kewell, Mark Schwarzek and Tim Cahill, he’s in fine company.

After 18 months in Scotland in which he scored 30 goals in 37 league games for Celtic, Viduka moved to Leeds, where he scored 60 in 130 despite the club’s downturn in fortunes and eventual relegation.

3 - Tugay

After just 42 games for Rangers, Graeme Souness was happy to bring Tugay to Ewood Park, whose arrival coincided with Blackburn’s rejuvenation following their return to the Premier League.

Despite being in his 30s, Tugay had no issues handling the pace of the Premier League. A supremely gifted footballer both technically and mentally, Tugay played nearly 300 games for Rovers, all after his 30th birthday.

2 - Andrew Robertson

In just two years, Andrew Robertson made the move from Queens Park to Dundee United to Hull City.

Showing plenty of promise on Humberside, Robertson went down and back up with Hull before moving to Liverpool where he’d go on to win the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, going down as one of the competition’s greatest ever left-backs.

1 - Virgil van Dijk

After just two seasons in Scotland,  Virgil van Dijk had shown enough for Southampton to take a punt on the defender.

It proved to be money well spent, as the Saints got two-and-a-half years out of the Dutchman, turning a £60m profit on a defender who may well be remembered as the finest in Premier League history.