Ryan Porteous details Hibs 'fairytale ending' but warns: 'We don't do enough to help Scottish talent flourish'

Ryan Porteous doesn’t yet know if Sunday’s Scottish Cup fourth-round encounter with Hearts will be his last game in a Hibs shirt, but he does know how he wants it to pan out if it does turn out to be his Easter Road swan song.

“If you were to write a fairytale ending then a win on Sunday is how it would be. But football is a strange thing and you don’t know what can happen from one day to the next. All I can do is take every day as it comes because I’m not in control of it,” he says.

He is speaking, of course, about the transfer speculation. Blackburn Rovers have lodged a six-figure bid that Hibs are considering but Udinese and Toulouse remain keen on the 23-year-old. But right now, all he is focused on is helping Hibs try to beat Hearts in Sunday’s cup derby. There is an added incentive that he has never played in a Hibs derby win. What a sign-off that could be, by the way.

“If we win, would I want to stay on and see it through? It’s out of my hands because Ben Kensell has made it quite clear, he wants to cash in during this window,” Porteous continues.

If Sunday is his last game for Hibs, Ryan Porteous hopes he can go out with a bang

“I think to not get anything for me would be a mistake for the club. If they don’t get the right offer then they’ll want to keep me to the end of the season. It’s got to a situation where it maybe shouldn’t have and I think if Hibs can get money, and an adequate replacement, then that’s best for both parties.”

Porteous insists the fans have been brilliant with him and admits he was glad not to receive a similar reaction to John Souttar, who endured the wrath of certain sections of the Hearts support when he agreed to join Rangers. Would he have considered staying in Scotland?

“The main reason for my choice was to develop as a player. You want to be the best you can and if I could do that in Scotland I would choose it. But I don’t think it is,” he explains.

Porteous insists his perceived reputation didn’t fuel his desire to get out of Scotland, but he does have some interesting points to make. He is coy over whether he sees his future as abroad or south of the Border.

“I wouldn’t say I was forced out, but the best place to go is out of Scotland. A lot of people jump on the backs of Scottish talent. John McGinn said after the Ukraine game that we should try to get these players to flourish and help them. I don’t think we do that enough. But it wasn’t a key reason behind my decision.

“If you look at players who have gone abroad, they have all done really well, so it’s definitely something that could excite me. That might help me with Scotland as well. I want to become a regular pick, I want to start more games at that level. If I could do that at Hibs and in Scotland, then so be it, but I think it does enhance my chances playing elsewhere. It was a decision I thought I had to make for my career.”