Stoke City want to land Scotland and Hibs defender Ryan Porteous and are ready to move for him in January. Potters boss Alex Neil has had his countryman scouted extensively in recent weeks and has been left highly impressed.
Neil is aware Porteous is out of contract in the summer and the centre-back could sign a pre-contract in January or move for free at the end of the season. Neil moved to the Bet365 Stadium earlier this year and is trying to put a squad together that is capable of pushing for promotion to the Premier League.
Stoke are among a string of Championship sides who are all keen on Porteous. Millwall have had bids rejected in the past and are still on his trail, while rivals Luton Town and League One big hitters Sheffield Wednesday are all in the equation.
Hibs have also tabled a generous offer for Porteous to extend his Easter Road deal but no agreement has yet been reached. The player has previously said he could hold contract talks with Hibs during the World Cup break.
The Easter Road club will continue to keep chipping away but they are aware of growing interest in their academy graduate. Things have gone to the next level since Porteous made his impressive Scotland debut in the goal-less draw away to Ukraine, which sealed promotion and top spot for Steve Clarke’s men in the Nations League, last month.
Quizzed on the defender’s situation last night boss Lee Johnson said he’d be pushing for an answer in the coming weeks. “Let’s get this game out of the way and then in the next press conference we can embrace those types of questions. I don’t know any more from two or three weeks ago, when it was parked. Then it will be ‘what are you doing?’ And it will be ‘I am or I’m not’.
“But at the moment he’s obviously playing and it’s not something you want to push while he’s playing.” Johnson insists Porteous deserves his place in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad - despite his form dipping since his international debut against Ukraine six weeks ago.
The stopper is expected to win his second cap against Turkey and Johnson said: “Three or four weeks ago, we were all hailing Ryan as a hero. This is part of being a footballer. Your form can go up and down and I think he’d say that off the ball his defending hasn’t been as good as it had been leading into that spell.
“He’s a very honest player. He can look at himself and be honest with that. Not everybody can and that’s a good sign; that’s why he’s an international player. But he deserves his call-up. A change is as good as a rest, in that sense, in terms of his focus being on Scotland and something different and he’ll be fine when he comes back to us.”
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