Norwich City youngster Reece McAlear has his sights set on promotion success with loan club Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Caley Thistle currently lead the Scottish Championship table by four points with eight games played, suffering their first loss when they were beaten 2-1 at Hamilton Academical last weekend.

Canaries midfielder McAlear has made 10 appearances in all competitions but has started just two league games and was an unused substitute at Hamilton.

The 19-year-old was signed from Motherwell two years ago, reportedly for an initial fee of £250,000 with potential add-on fees to follow. After becoming an established starter at under-23 level he made a brief Championship appearance.

The Scot came on in the 89th minute of a 1-1 draw with Coventry at Carrow Road last November, covering at right-back for the injured Max Aarons. He was also named as a substitute for five other first team games by Daniel Farke.

“Caley Thistle is a big club and I want to help them go up," McAlear told the Press & Journal. “I grew up supporting Celtic and Caley Thistle beat Celtic, so I wanted to bring this club back up to the top flight. Hopefully I can then return to Norwich and get a place in the team there.

“I enjoyed my time at Norwich and I am still learning. I got a taste of the first team and wanted more, but they got into the Premier League. They have top class players and I’m not going to fit in right now.

“I came here to gain experience and take Caley Thistle back to the top flight and that’s what I’m looking to do.”

McAlear has seen his role in Billy Dodds' team tweaked recently, adding: “The position I’m playing used to be more defensive, but now I’m further up the pitch, trying to score goals and offer assists as well as defending, so I’m learning.”

His push for a league start continued in the SPFL Trust Trophy today, against League Two side Elgin City - a competition featuring the 30 SPFL teams, eight non-league teams and under-21 teams from the 12 Premiership clubs.

McAlear started and claimed his first assist, playing Lewis Jamieson through on goal to seal a 4-2 win, playing the full 90 minutes to help earn a quarter-final spot.

The Canaries academy prospect has joined the FC United to Prevent Suicide campaign, which City's on-loan Chelsea and Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour has also promoted recently.

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