Jim Duffy claims Rangers would be able to sign defender Ryan Porteous for a bargain fee of just £500k in the January window, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season – and the Ibrox club are said to be keen.
Porteous, 23, is likely to leave on a free transfer. Having clocked up 151 appearances for Hibernian, the one-time Scotland ace is now expected to be on the move. His manager Lee Johnson wants him to move down south.
But Clyde manager Duffy recently said that he has heard Porteous could be Michael Beale’s first signing at Ibrox. He dismissed claims that Porteous could move to Celtic – with the Hoops just signing Japanese ace Yuki Kobayashi.
Rangers certainly need a centre-back with Connor Goldson, Filip Helander and John Souttar all out injured. It leaves the Gers with Ben Davies, James Sands and Leon King as options. Now, Duffy says Porteous would cost £500k.
“I think about half-a-million,” Clyde manager Duffy told Clyde Superscoreboard – as per The Record. “I don’t think you’d have to pay much more. Why would you? Hibs might think is it worth losing him for that amount of money.”
Duffy: Rangers able to sign Porteous for just £500k
An absolute no-brainer, given Rangers’ injury issues in the middle of the defence. They lack top-quality options. Sands has done nothing to show why he should be starting game after game, and King is still very much a rookie.
Without Goldson, Rangers look awful at the back. Davies is yet to show why he joined Liverpool from Preston, and why Rangers paid north of £3m to sign him. To get Porteous, proven in Scotland, for £500k, is an absolute must.
But there are a number of nuances. Will Hibs consider a January exit, or want to keep him until the end of the season and let him go for nothing? A player that Hearts skipper Craig Gordon once described as “excellent”.
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