Mickey Weir: Scotland call shows Ryan Porteous should stay at Hibs a bit longer

There’s definitely a sense of pride in seeing Ryan Porteous called up by Steve Clarke to the Scotland squad for three big games upcoming in the Nations League.

And that’s not just from the perspective of a Hibs fan. It’ll be the same for management and even the players. In my day it was great to see another member of the dressing room getting called up for international duty. Having them develop to that level can only help the club and the team.

It shows the manager rates him. Even if he's not involved in these games then it's obvious he sees Porteous as being part of the future for the national team, which is great news for the lad.

It's something Ryan will be looking forward to and hopefully it's the beginning of many more. From his perspective it's now about keeping it going and making sure he's part of the squad each and every time.

Hibs defender Ryan Porteous was called up into Steve Clarke's Scotland squad for the upcoming Nations League triple-header. Picture: SNS

Looking at Ryan, he's still got parts of his game where he can improve, but every young player has that. There's times in the game where he still needs to read situations a wee bit better. He's a competitive player but can be too competitive at times. There's a rashness to his play which needs to be worked on.

His competitive side reminds me of a lot of players I used to play with. Otherwise, he's not really someone who reminds me of any former team-mates or competitors. He's a completely different kind of player and I think that's down to the way the game has changed.

He's definitely got an old school mentality as a competitor. Unfortunately in the modern game, having that old school mentality can get you into trouble sometimes and be more trouble than it's worth. Hopefully he'll develop these parts of his game as he gets older as he's still a young man.

It's ultimately up to the player whether he wants to continue that development at Hibs. He's in the last year of his contract. The manager can only do so much in terms of whether he wants to build his team around a talent like Porteous. In the end it'll be the player's decision as to whether he wants to stay or go find pastures new.

You want to keep your best players at the club and if Hibs believe he falls into that category then they need to push the boat out and do what they can to convince him to stay.

I definitely think it would be best for Ryan's career if he did stay a bit longer. Unless it's a case of where the money is just too good to turn down. That's different.

I've always said that young players need to be in a position where they're playing games every week. Sometimes they can jump the boat too early and get lost in the trees. They can go to a club, quickly find themselves out of the side and their careers suddenly going the other way. Ryan needs to be careful that doesn’t happen to him.

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