Ryan Porteous may be a very good young player in Michael Beale's eyes but that does not make him a Rangers target.
The Hibs defender has been linked with a move to Ibrox after the news broke last month that he was to walk away from a new deal at Easter Road. The Scotland cap now has reported interested from the English Championship with the likes of Stoke City and Sheffield United leading the charge, but with some touting Rangers as a potential next destination.
And on Thursday, Porteous may have shown new Light Blues boss Beale exactly what he can do with a stunning header opening the scoring at Ibrox before Hibs fell to a second-half defeat in their league return match. And while the Englishman admits there is a player in Porteous, he insists there have been no discussions from the Glasgow side.
Beale also tempered expectations on potential transfer business Rangers will do, saying the 'whirlwind' first weeks of his tenure mean identifying targets has been a task. He told BBC Scotland: "He's not someone we've spoken about. To be honest, we've not spoken about any targets right now.
"The club had some targets they maybe had in mind. I've come in, I want to work with this group. Everything has been a bit of a whirlwind over the last two weeks. My focus has firmly been on this group.
"I think Ryan is a good young player. He sort of played in a new position tonight. Fair play to him. He scored a goal and I've seen him come through, really. I was here when he made his debut and he's gone on to play for Scotland, but at the moment, I think he's part of their squad and I wouldn't want to speculate on that.
"I know it's come out that he's not going to sign a contract, that means he must have something on his mind. If that's the case, that wouldn't be Rangers as we haven't discussed it yet."
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