https://m.tuttoudinese.it/calciomercato/udinese-si-avvicina-porteous-per-rinforzare-la-difesa-158326 Sounds like it's close to being done according to this but I'm not sure if Tutto Udinese just recycles rumours.
Translation of the article; It seems to be more and more Ryan Porteous the name chosen by Udinese to reinforce the defense with the now almost defined sale of Nehuen Perez to Napoli. The Scottish central born in 1999 is now one step away from wearing the black and white jersey. This season, Porteous has picked up 24 Championship appearances with the Watford jersey. The Pozzo have therefore decided to focus on the internal solution to put a patch on the defensive department, which could soon remain orphaned by Perez.
To be honest Porteous is a bit of a liability and I have nothing against this if we bring in a decent replacement. After all we have not kept in a clean sheet for 12 games. If we don’t bring anyone else in though or if it is someone like Kabasele I will be very annoyed.
I have no problem with Sierralta taking Porteous’s place in defence. And RP can develop his skills in Italy. But we need another defensive midfielder or 2 more centre halves at this rate. What is happening? Even with Dennis back, I don’t see promotion, but without replacements at the back it’s gonna get painful.
Strikes me as an odd one. Can't imagine he is forcing a move - as he is getting quite a bit of game time - more than he probably deserves. I don't think he is very good and so I wouldnt have a problem if we were minded to replace him. However I just dont understand why Udinese don't sign someone decent themselves rather than mucking around like this.
Extremely long article on him on Wikipedia BTW for someone who's only had two international appearances and has never played for any team better than a midtable Prem one* - wonder who's been doing all the edits? *And I'm not sure he was even a regular for that team - on the basis of a sample of the 2018/19 season where I looked up the line-ups for several of our better performances (Wolves away, Cardiff away, Leicester at home and Man Utd away despite the defeat), the much-criticized Mariappa made more appearances. A site would confirm or deny this but it's blocked at work for some reason and it's not mobile friendly.
Am I the only whopper who still thinks he's one of our best recent defenders? I remember reading some other fans forums when we were in the prem and he was often recognised as one of our better players! Of course people who post on forums are thick qwunts, but still.
Kabasele? Hardly a high bar when it comes to our "recent defenders", is there. When he was good he was good and his pace was helpful, but he was more often than not extremely prone to ridiculous brain farts and awful, rash decision making.
Kabasele for Porteous - frying pan and fire come to mind. Nothing personal against Kabasele, whom I liked, but....
Yep, although Porteous at least has the potential to improve, whereas Kabasele is well on the decline. At this moment in time they're both crap.
Who would fit the bill as a sensible replacement? Wouldn't be too upset if Porteous does go if someone else comes decent enough in for him, he's been playing a lot at CB, but Sierralta is arguably better than him
Lets hope the powers that be know VI won't want a squad that is short on numbers as we will suffer and we all know who will be blamed then if it goes wrong, Test for Pozzo here - does he just want the money and not bothered about the squad or does he want to help a manager the club have obviously put faith in?
Disagree, he was absolutely forensic in his tackling, like a skilled Uruguayan surgeon...just seemed to be a little bit unlucky with several refs. Can't understand why.
Sounds like this isn't happening: https://twitter.com/marcoconterio/status/1750929533430038537 @marcoconterio Ryan Porteous will not be the new reinforcement of #Udinese after Nehuen Perez's farewell on the bridge destination #Napoli . The regulations do not allow the transfer (British people equated to EU citizens but with a membership ceiling already reached by Friulians) #WatfordFC
Really not sure this is a thing anymore. Italian football is pretty crap and if you look at some of the defenders we've got from there, they couldn't really defend - Angella, Holebas, Masina. Don't get me wrong, I loved the first two but they showed little to no defensive awareness most of the time. And dozy Masina really puts paid to the "players learn how to defend properly in Serie A" schtick! I think the best pure defenders are schooled in South America now. Love a Uruguayan or an Argentinian defender.
As several other of our players have improved this morning in a more settled environment and playing for VI, there’s no reason Porteous can’t and won’t either. Surely we've moved away of late from this revolving door culture. Signing a player, liking him at first then quickly turning against him and wanting him moved on etc. Stabilty has (surprisingly) been the key word this season.
This is theoretically true, however, he hasn't shown any signs at all over an entire half a season now, and may actually have got worse, so it's not trending amazingly as it stands.
