Former Hibs defender Ryan Porteous has joined Preston North End on loan from Watford
He will spend the remainder of the season at Deepdale and will take the No.2 shirt.
Porteous said: “I’m delighted. It’s all come about quite fast. When the manager spoke to me, having worked with him before at Hibs, I was pretty sure that I was going to come here.
“I’m looking forward to it. I think at the age I am now, I need a consistent run of games and a healthy environment. I feel that Preston can provide that right now.”
The 25-year-old began his career with his boyhood club Hibs where he worked with PNE manager Paul Heckingbottom.
After more than 150 appearances for Hibs, he made the move to England to join up with Watford in January 2023.
He’s since featured 82 times for the Hornets and the defender has also earned 12 caps for Scotland, including an appearance at the 2024 European Championships.
Heckingbottom said: “I’m really pleased we’ve managed to bring Ryan in. He’s a player I know well from my time at Hibernian and I’m looking forward to working with him again
“We’re unfortunately going to be missing Jordan Storey for a while through injury, so it’s a position which we wanted to cover and we’ve managed to do that by adding quality with Ryan
“He’s an international defender with experience of playing regularly in the Championship, so he’ll be a good addition for us between now and the end of the season.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
