Ryan Porteous has been a name mentioned as being a potential transfer target for Celtic in the last few days. The Hibs defender will not sign a new deal at Easter Road as he looks to force a move away from the Edinburgh club. Much like John Souttar last season, Celtic are being dragged into a transfer saga that they have no interest in.
Porteous, 23, is a Scotland Internationalist that has the potential to improve in the future but he is said to have large contractual demands and is keen on taking his football to the next step. Although, there is no space for him to do that and the
Celtic have only recently secured the services of Yuki Kobayashi on a five-year deal. The left-footed central defender is highly-rated in Japan and will be keen to replicate Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo in taking the Scottish game by storm.
Moritz Jenz’s future is uncertain, despite playing nineteen games and scoring twice. The defender is on-loan from FC Lorient with an option to buy retained by Celtic. The German will be hoping that he can earn a deal at the club as he is a confident central defender domestically.
Celtic’s preferred central pairing would be USA Internationalist Cameron Carter-Vickers and Swede Carl Starfelt. Through injuries, the pair have been unable to play as many games as the manager would like but you would expect them to resume when the game at Pittodrie kicks off next Saturday.
Stephen Welsh is another man that will be keen to prove that he has a future at Celtic. The former Scotland U21 has played just six times this season, scoring once but at 22, he has plenty of time ahead of him to improve and grow into his role at Celtic.
There are a number of football reasons that Celtic would be unlikely to sign Porteous; however, the sheer number of quality defenders at the club that would be ahead of him means that Celtic will not be signing Ryan Porteous in January.
