Club’s key figure makes transfer admission on Hull City, Norwich, Stoke City, Sunderland, Watford and West Brom target | OneFootball

Hibernian chief executive Ben Kensell has revealed that centre-back Ryan Porteous is “likely” to leave during the January transfer window, making this admission to Hibs TV.

The 23-year-old has been the subject of interest from many clubs in the Championship, with Millwall, Norwich City, Stoke City, Sunderland, Watford and West Bromwich Albion all reported to be in the race for his signature at this point.

Alan Nixon also believes Hull City are in the mix to recruit him, having already been active during the previous window and adding to their squad this month too with Aaron Connolly joining on loan from Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion.

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Porteous is reportedly keen to move to a different league and that has given these English sides a boost in the race to recruit him, though Serie A outfit Udinese are also interested in a deal and have the ability to offer the defender top-flight football.

The Italian outfit and Watford are linked together by the Pozzo family and that could enable the latter to secure the services of Porteous at some stage even if the former end up winning the race for him.

It’s currently unclear where he will end up – but a move now seems likely this move.

That’s according to Kensell, who said to Hibs TV (via the Edinburgh Evening News): “Ryan is likely to leave in this window. There are two, three, several options that Ryan could choose from.

“Ultimately that will come down to Ryan. Ultimately we are looking to extract the best deal possible for the club, whilst also making it the best deal possible for Ryan.”

The Verdict:

This is probably the best outcome for Lee Johnson’s side because they can focus on other things away from this saga if he moves on and that could be beneficial for them in terms of the rest of their season.

It will also be good for the club that’s buying him – because that will give them an extra few months with the defender to assess where he’s at before deciding how to include him in their plans.

And the player will probably want to have time to settle in during the second half of the season before potentially hitting the ground running next season, so it’s no surprise that he’s likely to be sold this month.

There’s only a certain amount of further progress he can probably make in the Scottish Premiership before he hits his ceiling – and that’s something Ryan Christie did at Celtic before deciding to move on to AFC Bournemouth.

Christie was criticised for his decision to make the switch to the south coast – but he’s now competing in the Premier League and with this – it could definitely be argued that this potential move has worked out for the Scotsman.