Slaven Bilic confirmed that Watford expect to complete the signing of Scottish defender Ryan Porteous in the next few days, but added that he saw it as a “cosmetic change” and as a result the club still hadn’t dealt with what he identified as priorities.

The 23-year-old Scottish international has been linked with a move away from Hibernian for some time.

The deal looked to be faltering at one stage as the Scottish side wanted to keep the player and use him in their key league game with Aberdeen tomorrow.

However, that isn’t now happening although the signing probably won’t be completed today meaning it’s unlikely the 23-year-old will be involved at Middlesbrough tomorrow.

“I met him this morning at the training ground, here’s here and he should be signing today or the next couple of days,” said Bilic.

“The plan is for him to train with us today and take it from there.

“He’s in good shape and match fit because he’s been playing games. Since I knew there was a chance of getting him I have been watching his games and videos, and I know all about him.

“He’s a ball-playing centre back who is not afraid to step in. He has that element of confidence about him, and although he’s young he is a young player with good experience.”

As Porteous comes through the entry door, William Troost-Ekong has left through the exit – and that is not a fact lost on Bilic, who said that losing a defender and bringing another one to the club was not, in his opinion, a priority for the January transfer window.

“I see this as a refreshment of the squad. It’s a cosmetic change. It’s not in the areas where we wanted or needed to improve our first XI,” he said.

“We lost Troost-Ekong and there is a good chance that Mattie Pollock will go out on loan.

“Ekong has played more minutes than any of our centre-backs since I came to the club. He is a leader and a homegrown player.

“So while it is good to refresh the team, it is not what I would call a priority.

“Don’t get me wrong: I always like to add young players to the team and hopefully he’s going to gel straight away.

“The two centre-halves have been playing well, and this gives us the option to play with a three if we want to.

“Porteous could also play as one of two. We’ll have to see, but he can comfortably step in. He’s just broken into the Scottish team and played a few months ago against Ukraine. That means something.

“The intensity and physicality of the Championship in England and the Premiership in Scotland are very similar, so he will not find it difficult to transition.

“Long term it is definitely a good deal for us. He is young and will get even better.

“Ekong had been here a long time and possibly, from his perspective, he needed a change. Towards the end he didn’t play every game, but he was involved in more or less every match since I came here.

“He was an important player on the pitch, and an important leader off it.”

With the transfer window closing on Tuesday, the signing of Henrique Araujo has ticked the 'striker box', but leaves gaps next to both midfielder and winger in terms of the three areas that Bilic very clearly and publicly highlighted as his essentials for strengthening.

“So far we brought in a full-back, we brought in a striker and we pretty much swapped a defender for a defender,” he said.

“What we still haven’t done is fix the positions that we detected as the priorities.

“Tuesday is the deadline day, and Tuesday will come round soon. Hopefully we are going to do something.

“Is something going to happen – or like Harry Redknapp once said about Sean Dyche, will I be going to bed early on deadline day night?!”