Ryan Porteous: Ten potential transfer destinations for outgoing Hibs defender in January

The club announced last month that the Scotland international had rejected a new deal. His current contract ends in the summer, which means he is free to talk to other clubs from January 1 and negotiate a pre-contract agreement. But Hibs might decide to cash in on him next month, if the right offer comes in, rather than watch him walk away for nothing next summer.

Lee Johnson says he would prefer to see Porteous go down south rather than move to Glasgow. But where could he end up? The ten rumoured options doing the rounds are Rangers, Celtic, Udinese, Watford, Norwich, Millwall, Sunderland, Luton Town, West Brom and Stoke City. Let’s go through them.

The Old Firm

But there's been speculation in the last few weeks that the 23-year-old could stay in Scotland and move to either Rangers or Celtic. Ibrox seems to be the more likely destination.

It’s exactly what John Souttar decided to do when moving from Hearts to Rangers in the summer on a free. Rangers are searching for a new centre-half because they have a handful of injuries in that one position, but those will soon be sorted out as the season goes on. But a bid to land him in January is certainly

There are strong rumours circulating that Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson is ready to sit down with him and negotiate a possible immediate transfer, but there hasn’t been any contact between the clubs yet. Rangers would almost certainly wait until after January 1, when they are free to make direct contact with the player’s agent.

Former Hibs and Rangers striker Kenny Miller reckons moving to Ibrox is a ‘no-brainer’. Miller said in his Daily Record column: “If it’s purely a football decision, it’s not a bad idea at all. But for him to make it in Glasgow and realise his full potential at Ibrox he’ll need to cut out some of the stupid antics he’s shown at Easter Road.”

Ian Murray, who made the switch from Hibs to Rangers in 2005, believes the Old Firm is a better option than the Sky Bet Championship because of the opportunity to play European football – even if there’s more money on offer in England’s second tier. He said: “I can’t think of many players who have been offered the chance to play for either half of the Old Firm and turned it down when playing for Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen or Dundee United.”

There hasn’t been too much speculation about any genuine interest from Celtic yet. They tend to be lumped in with Rangers when rumours fly around about potential interest in young Scottish players. But they can’t be discounted.

Udinese and Watford

The Serie A side are in the race to land the Hibs defender, according to the reports. Italian sides are closely monitoring the Scottish market following the success of Aaron Hickey at Bologna, with Lewis Ferguson already starring for Udinese and Josh Doig making an impact at Hellas Verona after leaving Hibs in the summer.

Udinese, currently eighth in Serie A, previously failed in a bid to land Celtic’s Stephen Welsh and could now turn their attention to Porteous, whose distribution from the back would be part of the appeal. The defender’s game would probably be well suited to Serie A and he could, of course, seek advice from Doig about life in Italy's top flight.

The Italians have a close relationship with Watford because the clubs are owned by the Pozzo family. Watford have also been linked with Porteous. The two clubs regularly exchange players.

It is therefore possible that Porteous could move to Watford first and then join Udinese in the summer. Watford only just announced this week that they have signed 20-year-old Canada international midfielder Ismael Kone from CF Montreal. The intention is for him to then be handed over to Udinese in pre-season.

English Championship

Lots of clubs in the English Championship are understood to be monitoring the situation closely and preparing to make an offer.

Watford, Norwich, Millwall, Sunderland, Luton Town, West Brom and Stoke City have all been credited with interest in the defender from Dalkeith. Norwich, Watford and Millwall, fourth, fifth and seventh in the table, could be appealing because they are in the hunt for promotion to the Premier League.

Managed by former Hibs boss Tony Mowbray, Sunderland are mid-table and would be the closest club to home for Porteous, who could ask Lee Johnson and Aiden McGeady for advice about moving to the Stadium of Light. Luton are also mid-table. Porteous may be able to get the inside info on them from Matt Macey, who is the third-choice keeper.

West Brom are 17th and have pulled themselves off the bottom under the new leadership of Carlos Corberan. They are looking for someone to form a partnership with highly-rated 23-year-old Dara O’Shea at the heart of their defence. Stoke, who might be looking to replace Australia international Harry Souttar after his World Cup heroics, are 19th.

Former England midfielder Carlton Palmer believes English Championship clubs would be able to offer a more attractive financial package than the Old Firm. He added: “Hibs have made that very, very clear that they would prefer him to go in the January transfer window so they could get a fee. Other than that, he’s got so many clubs interested in the Championship, he could be attracting a team that’s going to get into the Premier League next season. He’s in a very, very, very good position. Hibs would prefer him to go to a club down south. That’s better for them in terms of generating a transfer fee.”