Hibernian boss Lee Johnson shares private Ryan Porteous talks amid Rangers transfer interest
Hibernian boss Lee Johnson claims that Rangers are not a club that have been mentioned to him about being interested in Ryan Porteous.
The defender is set to leave Hibs at the end of the season on a free transfer, and Rangers have been tipped to make an early move for him in January like they did with John Souttar last year from Hearts.
However Johnson has admitted that he still hopes Porteous stays at Easter Road, but admits that if he does leave he’d rather he goes to England than to a rival, while sharing that the player and himself have had private chats about his possible transfer options.
“There are obviously potential suitors out there to the point we know there is interest,” he said, speaking to the Daily Record (14 December).
“I know the clubs that are interested even although I won’t reveal them but no one has gone bosh, there’s a deal.
“I’ve spoken to him, on a regular basis about potential options and he’s asked my advice on various clubs, Championship clubs, foreign clubs and stuff like that but honestly Rangers is not one of the ones that have come up.
“I’m not saying that doesn’t mean they’re in for him but maybe they have not been as prominent as some of the other clubs.
“I would prefer to see him go down south if he was to leave. It’d get him in a different market and out the way because I like him and if I didn’t think he was any good I’d be happy for him to be playing for one of our rivals.”
No surprise
Rangers need to upgrade their central defence at some point in the near future, that is for sure, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be interested in every available option.
Porteous has had a good spell at Hibs, but whether or not he is good enough to move to Ibrox and make an impact right now is certainly up in the air.
When everyone at Rangers is fit we have Connor Goldson, Souttar, Ben Davies and Leon King as centre-back options, plus the option to sign James Sands permanently in the summer and the likes of Filip Helander who Michael Beale has worked with too.
The Times have previously reported that there has been no contact between Rangers and Porteous, and now this just confirms it more than anything else.
There is a need to strengthen that area of the pitch and Beale will know that, but it seems pretty safe now to rule Porteous out of the running to be the one he brings in either in January or the summer.
In other Rangers news, report shares if Connor Goldson will start vs Hibs on Thursday