Scott aiming High

Scott High hopes to one day play in the English Premier League, with the ambitious Dundalk FC midfielder also dreaming about earning international caps at senior level.

The 23-year-old, who has featured seven times for the Scotland U21 team, was just one of 11 close-season signings brought to Oriel Park by head coach Stephen O’Donnell.

West Yorkshire-native High, who can also represent England, made his home debut for Dundalk in their 2-0 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division defeat to Galway United.

“We’ve got a lot of new faces here, including myself and quite a few other loans,” he told The Democrat. “It’s going to take time to settle in and get used to each other, but the best way of doing that is being around the group and on the training ground and then playing games. Obviously that’s when you gel the best.”

High joined The Lilywhites on loan from Huddersfield Town, where he made the majority of his 60 appearances in the English Championship, but despite interest from other clubs, he did not require much persuasion to move into League of Ireland football.

“As soon as I had spoken to the gaffer and Brian (Gartland) on a Zoom call, they made it clear where they wanted me to play and what they wanted me to do.

“I thought it was a real challenge for me to come here. They sort of sold it straight away on a Zoom call with myself and my agent, so it was sort of a no-brainer. I had a few Zoom calls with some other teams, but the best one was definitely Dundalk from what the gaffer was showing me.”

Dundalk represents a fifth loan move for High, who has had similar stints with Concord Rangers, Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United and most recently Ross County.

But although his time at Oriel is due to expire in the summer, he has opened the door in terms of possibility of extending his stay on the Carrick Road until the end of the season.

“You never know,” he said. “Every week I just need to perform the best as I can and prove to myself and to everyone else what I can do on the pitch and off the pitch, to the boys in the changing room. Like I said, play as many games as I can, show everyone what I can do and you never know in the summer what will happen, you never know with football.”

High views the League of Ireland as the ideal platform to showcase his abilities, which he hopes will lead to bigger things for himself after he eventually returns to Huddersfield.

“Personally, I want to go to the very top, that’s where I want to go,” he claimed. “Definitely (Premier League) and national team, that’s what I want to do. I want to show everyone how good I actually am.

“It’s been sort of a difficult road personally. I’ve been here, there and everywhere, a couple of injuries and stuff. People don’t see what happens behind closed doors in football, it’s never easy. So hopefully I can kick on and hopefully the gaffer and everyone here gives me a good platform.

“The gaffer’s really approachable. I’ve spoken to him numerous times. Even all the other staff as well, they’re all brilliant. They’ve all been fantastic helping me settle in early doors, but especially the gaffer from when I spoke to him on the Zoom call, I’ve got a lot of praise for him.”