Greg Stewart reveals the Rangers dig at Barisic that left Derek McInnes in a sweat before dream transfer came to life

Greg Stewart joked he was about to sign for Rangers to Borna Barisic while he was still at Aberdeen – only for his prediction to come true just days later.

And it was a cheeky dig at the Croat that got Derek McInnes scrambling to keep news of his move to Ibrox under wraps. Stewart impressed on loan at Aberdeen at the tail end of the 2018/19 season and his Pittodrie form prompted Steven Gerrard to swoop in and sign him on a pre-contract deal. He penned a contract with his boyhood club in March and it came soon after an impressive Scottish Cup performance against them as Aberdeen forced a quarter-final replay with a 1-1 draw.

Stewart wasn't on the scoresheet but gave Barisic a torrid time, so much so he jokingly 'thanked' the left-back afterwards for earning him a move to Rangers. What Stewart didn't know at the time was that the Ibrox side were actually about to offer him a contract.

It was a coincidence but one that prompted McInnes to pull him into the office to ask him how he knew about it. Stewart, now playing for Mumbai City in India, said on the Scots Abroad podcast: "I was in the last six months of my deal at Birmingham, so I played in January, February and at the start of March we played Rangers at Pittodrie. I ran riot that game. I was playing against Borna. Basically, Borna got me a move to Rangers.

"I said that to him when I signed, 'Cheers mate you got me a move here'. It was just a bit of banter. I'll always remember it. At Aberdeen, you had to go to the stadium to get changed before you'd travel to the training ground.

"I went to the stadium one day and Derek pulled me into his office. I thought I'd done something wrong. He said, 'Do you know something that I don't know?' I was oblivious, I didn't have a