Lee Johnson knows a multi-million pound centre-back when he sees one.
And in Ryan Porteous, he reckons everyone else can spot one too after the former Hibs ace helped Scotland scalp Spain. The stopper was among Steve Clarke’s stand-out performers on Tuesday night as the Scots claimed a famous win over the former world champions. It was only in December Leith gaffer Johnson predicted Porteous 24, would grow into a £20million star of the future.
But Johnson reckons it’s taken just three months for the player to live up to that billing after his impressive display at Hampden. Watford didn’t need much convincing on his potential, shelling out £450,000 to take the Hibs academy recruit to the English Championship. But Johnson believes it won’t be long before the Hornets are making a profit on that investment – and that’s good news for his side too, who stand to bank 20 per cent of any future fee. Johnson said: “Yeah, he probably already is (looking like the £20m player I thought he could become). I’ve sold players (for big money) and he is as good as all of them.
“Alfie Mawson went for £5.5m, Lloyd Kelly £22.5m, Adam Webster £25m, Aden Flint £7m, Marc Roberts £3.5m and James Tarkowski played for England. All these players are centre-halves, I’ve a good concept of centre-halves and their value and how they can step in.
“If Ryan was to be sold and someone big came in for him then what’s the price? Often it depends what environment you put them in.
“On an international stage, against Spain, there is that realistic value. And I hope that he does go for big money because of our sell-on!”
There was little sign of the rashness that blighted Porteous’ early days at Easter Road as he put on a super cool display as Spain threw everything they had at Clarke’s side in the final stages of Tuesday’s 2-0 shock.
But Johnson reckons Porto has long since ditched his hot-head persona. He said: “Ryan has always been a good player, we worked hard on his concentration and he worked hard on it as well – if you look at this season as a whole he didn’t get sent off once and if he did get booked, a lot of them were harsh.
“He was controlled. Yes, I was asking him to step in and make bold decisions because I believed in him on the ball, but it was something we worked hard on, having fire in the belly and ice in the head.
“That’s just a case of the player maturing. We gave him leadership responsibilities and all those things started to come out naturally in his game but also because he was working on them.
“I’d never take the credit for a player improving but it’s a journey that they’re on and sometimes the perception is not the reality.
“It becomes the reality because of the media, referees, or anyone who has a perception. But I’m only giving you the story from when I’ve been in and what I’ve seen and it’s been very consistent in terms of his progression.”Johnson serves a one-game touchline ban on Saturday as his side host Motherwell after being booked during Hibs’ controversy-filled defeat by Celtic.
He added: “I’m gutted I’m in the stand, that is frustrating but there are positives to it. It’s good to get that bird’s eye view every now and then but I don’t want to make a habit of it.
"It’s a bit unjust. I am trying to get my head around looking forward to it from a different aspect.”
