Hibs manager Lee Johnson, on the eve of Rangers v Hibernian, has claimed there’s been no offers yet for wantaway defender Ryan Porteous, amid links to a move to Govan next month.

The Easter Road boss explained in his presser that he’s ‘unaware’ of any bids being made for Porteous, but that is of course quite different to there not being any.

Porteous is free to talk to any clubs he likes in just under three weeks, and strong rumours continue to circulate that Ross Wilson and Rangers are ready to sit down with him and negotiate a possible immediate transfer, given his growing stock in the game and evident need to leave.

Pundits every which way but loose in Scottish football have been having their say, but there is no smoke without fire on this one and Rangers, Wilson and manager Michael Beale are definitely interested in the idea of taking Porteous, if an acceptable fee can be found to secure him before the end of his contract.

Rangers’ injuries are clearing up now, but with three defenders remaining on the list (John Souttar, Filip Helander and Ridvan Yilmaz) Porteous’ arrival in just a few weeks would be a welcome boost to an area of the pitch which could do with more quality depth.

For Johnson’s part though, Hibs’ boss says he doesn’t know of any bids, but that doesn’t mean Rangers haven’t already enquired about Porteous’ cost – with the Bosman ruling, Rangers don’t have to engage with Hibernian’s hierarchy at all, the club is completely free to directly contact Porteous as of the 1st of January, but before then Rangers may have given them a sign that discussions with Porteous will happen soon.

The player himself has remained tight-lipped on the whole thing, not a peep out of him about his future and he’s avoided the media completely – there were claims his Instagram removed all pictures of Rangers in his account, we couldn’t comment on this.

Either way, his signing would be a massive talking point for Rangers fans, who remain rather split about the merits of signing Porteous to Ibrox.