Lee Johnson admits Hibs have to consider their succession plan for Ryan Porteous after the defender rejected their offer of a new contract.
As things stand, the Scotland international will depart Easter Road at the end of the season when his deal expires. However, a cut-price January sale is on the cards with a host of clubs from England and Europe interested in signing the 23-year-old. Milwall had an offer rejected for Porteous two years ago but are now back in the hunt.
Stoke City, Sheffield Wednesday and Italian outfit Udinese are also credited with an interest. Johnson insists he will continue to select Porteous., starting with Thursday’s trip to Ibrox to face Rangers as the Premiership action resumes following the World Cup break. But the Hibs gaffer also acknowledged that if the money they can get for their star defender can be put towards replacing him, then they’d have to weigh that up against keeping him for a crack at Europe and the Scottish Cup.
“An assessment will have to be made based on the financial offer that we receive,” he explained. “You have to weigh up the benefit of keeping Ryan here and competing to fight for those European places. A cup run is possible in the Scottish Cup. At the same time, the succession plan has to be considered. If the fee is right and we’re able to reinvest it in a younger player or a player that could be as good as Ryan, then we have to look at that opportunity as well.
“What I would say is that Ryan has been fantastic. He’s been the perfect professional if you like and absolutely he's available for selection going into Thursday. Myself and Ryan have a very good relationship and it's stayed honest all the way through. I've got no issue with him personally.”
Hibs are the first competitive opposition of Michael Beale’s Rangers reign after a 3-0 friendly win over Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. Johnson has been doing his homework and expects Beale to make a seamless transition from coach to top job, although has picked out one or two differences in how Rangers play already.
“Naturally, the new manager will bring his ideas into it but the consistency they’ve had with Michael Beale being at the club 18 months ago under Steven Gerrard, the boys will naturally understand what he’s after,” Johnson told Sky Sports.
“You can already see that in the game that we watched at the weekend. We’ve looked at the QPR stuff so you start to see the principles of play coming back into it. It’s slightly different in the way that they build on the ball and they're different off the ball as well. But we’ll be ready for it.”
After suffering a 6-1 thrashing on their last visit to Glasgow, Johnson has challenged his players to embrace the occasion this time: “This is a different game,” he said. “We drew with Rangers in our home game.
“Obviously Ibrox is a fantastic place to play and the boys should absolutely thrive on that. You should go out in a stadium like that, on a stage like that and an atmosphere like that and want to be the best player on the pitch. I didn't think enough of us did that in the Celtic game at Parkhead.
“This serves as an opportunity for us. There’s three points on offer but also an opportunity for individuals to show really that the form is permanent if you like, but the class is permanent.”
READ NEXT:
