Former Scotland under-21 internationalist Ryan Gauld looks set to continue his career in Portugal - but only once he agrees a pay-off from Sporting Lisbon.
The 23-year-old has been told he is free to leave the club as he enters the sixth and final year of his contract - having joined in a £3 million deal from Dundee United in 2014.
Gauld has only managed a total of five appearances for Sporting either side of loan spells at Vitória de Setúbal, Aves, Farense and Hibs.
Despite telling the playmaker he can go, Sporting officials are so far unwilling to negotiate any kind of severance deal with Gauld.
And even though Gauld has offers from both Portuguese top-flight and second tier teams, he looks set to return for pre-season training with his current employers next week.
READ MORE: Ex-Dundee ace Kyle Gourlay earns Bournemouth trial
Gauld is understandably keen to reach a suitable agreement as he would have to accept a sizeable drop in salary to sign for another Portuguese club.
The United academy graduate had returned to Scotland in January with hopes of reviving his career but was hampered by a hamstring injury during his time at Hibs, making just six appearances.
Speaking about the player at the end of last season, Hibs head coach Paul Heckingbottom said: “Technically we know he’s a good player, tactically he is excellent, his understanding is great.
“For me next season Ryan has to be playing somewhere to show what he is about and to develop himself as well.
“You can get lost in the game, people’s opinion of you can become warped.
“And the only way to take control of that is by playing.
“For me that’s a big, big thing for him, his family and his agent, to get him back playing.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here