Ryan Porteous handed 'not Hibs' contract advice from Craig Levein as free agent risk looms over Easter Road

Craig Levein was left delighted at Ryan Porteous' upturn in fortunes after the Hibs defender scored the decisive goal in Hibs 1-0 win over Motherwell on Saturday.

Porteous was a stand out for Scotland as Steve Clarke's men gained Nations League promotion last month and has been a rock in the backline at club level too. And now former Hearts boss Levein insists it could be time for Porteous to seek a move elsewhere with his stock at a career high after netting in back to back games while keeping a clean sheet.

"I'm delighted for Ryan Porteous", Levein told BBC Sportsound. "He was getting a bit of stick earlier in the season and his header yesterday was brave to say the least. All credit to him. He's had stick but he's went about it the right way and showed people that he's made of strong stuff. But he can go to someone else now, not Hibs."

After securing a fourth consecutive win to propel the Edinburgh side up to third in the Scottish Premiership, Hibs boss Lee Johnson lifted the lid on the contract offer made to Porteous in the hope that the 23-year-old will commit his future to the Easter Road club.

Porteous current deal expires in the summer and Johnson doesn't want to put unnecessary pressure on him to put pen to paper on an extension.

He said: "We’ve offered him a really good contract, a strong one. There is no immediate pressure from me for an answer but as we near January the screw has to turn on that a little bit.

"We think the right thing for Hibs is obviously securing Ryan and that’s why we’ve made such a strong offer but if not the world moves on and we’ll make sure we have a succession plan.”

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