Hibs offered big money for Nisbet and Porteous
Hibs have received two seven-figure bids for popular centre-back Ryan Porteous and leading goalscorer Kevin Nisbet, The Scotsman understands.
The offer from English Championship side Millwall for Porteous is believed to be worth over £1 million, while Birmingham City have tested the club’s resolve with a £2m offer for Nisbet.
The Easter Road side are said to be assessing their options with just four days left before the end of the January window. There is no immediate need to sell, with both players tied down on long-term deals.
Scotland Under-21 defender Porteous doesn’t see his contract run out until 2023 having signed an extension last January, while Nisbet is just six months into the four-year deal he penned after joining in a £200,000 move from Dunfermline Athletic last summer.
The 23-year-old has bagged 13 goals in 30 appearances since the move up to the Scottish Premiership and there are growing calls for him to be included in Scotland’s Euro 2020 squad.
As part of a sell-on clause, it is believed that Championship side Dunfermline will be entitled to a significant portion of any fee Hibs net for Nisbet.
Darren Mcgregor has spent much of this season idling on the sidelines when match days come around.
And, although he made just his second league appearance of the season in Wednesday's 1-0 defeat by Rangers, he was again granted a ringside seat as one of the key moments of the game unfolded.
He was on hand to watch as his team-mate Ryan Porteous became a victim of a sneaky Alfredo Morelos stamp and was aghast that referee Kevin Clancy deemed it unworthy of any admonishment, especially as he was later booked for his first infringement.
But, while his colleagues su pp or tedMc greg or’ s stance on the Rangers striker’s moment of madness, he admitted that they were less convinced by his own plea of innocence.
“I said to the referee at the time [that it was a stamp]. I don’t think there was much malice in it in terms of [Morelos] going out to hurt Porteous. But I think he could have put his foot in a different place, so make of that what you will.”
But having shown such leniency to the Colombian, the Hibs defender was surprised when the referee came down harder on him following a touchline clash with Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara.
“I thought for my first foul it was a bit harsh. But then some of the guys said they thought I was in WWE for a minute so maybe that is why I got booked!”
There was no enduring sense of injustice, though, even after Morelos popped up in the 51st minute to score what proved to be the only goal of the match.
“I don’t focus too much on the minute details of the game, I think what will be will be,” said the former Rangers centre-half who captained the side after being promoted to the starting line-up in place of Paul Hanlon. “They are a really good team. We had a game plan and stuck to it but they got the goal that changed the game.”
Mcgregor’s only other Premiership showing prior to Wednesday had come as a first-half substitute in the leagued raw with st john stone in November.
But, looking for a re-jig and a reaction following last week’s Betfred Cup semi-final defeat by the Perth side, he was one of those thrust into the fray against Rangers, along with Melker Hallberg and Christian Doidge. And, whether it was the personnel changes or the verbal dressing down, something provoked a stronger response against the league leaders.
“[The manager] will usually come in [to the training ground] on the Monday and he might change some of the words that he said at half-time or full-time but, this week, I think he wanted to double down and he said that it wasn’t good enough and that, in stages, it was way, way below the bar that he sets.” added Mcgregor. "I think having that conversation and then seeing the performance on Wednesday night shows that everyone has taken heed of that.
“We spoke about it at the start of the week and our reaction sometimes, to conceding or in the face of adversity, isn’t what we would want. We had an open air conversation about it and everyone said their piece and I thought you saw a reaction from that.”