Ryan Porteous: From Dalkeith to the Scotland Squad
From Dalkeith to downtown Los Angeles, Ryan Porteous has taken the scenic route to the Scotland squad.
The journey is not just long-haul flights and new postcodes. It runs through Hibernian’s academy, a grounding loan at Edinburgh City, more than 150 first-team games at Easter Road, over 80 for Watford, and now 52 appearances in the colours of Los Angeles – the noisy neighbours of LA Galaxy in a city that barely sleeps.
For a boy from Midlothian, it still sounds faintly surreal.
“Dalkeith, I know man. I could be the first ever, actually, to be fair,” he laughed, asked to trace the line from a small Scottish town to California.
He lives in Pasadena now, on the edge of the chaos rather than in the thick of it. Close to the “practice facility”, as he now instinctively calls it, and far enough away from what he jokingly dubs “the temptation zone”. No daily battle with LA traffic. No excuses when it comes to turning up ready.
The tan, the relaxed grin, the Americanised vocabulary – all of it points to a defender who has not just moved club, but fully embraced a different footballing world.
MLS Shock To The System
Porteous crossed the Atlantic in August last year. The football did not surprise him. The schedule did.
“I'm enjoying it,” he said. “There's been a lot of games. It's probably something I didn't realise when I went over there, how many games there were in terms of travel and dealing with long flights, recovery times and things like that.
“That caught me off guard a little bit. It was tough, but I think, once you start getting into the swing of it, it's good.”
The grind has sharpened him. Week after week, city after city, he has found a rhythm.
“I think I've probably had one of my most consistent seasons over the last three or four years,” he said. “The level varies, I think, between every team and every position.
“I'm fortunate and unfortunate at the same time that the majority of the team's best players are number 10s, strikers, or wingers, so every game for me is really tough and the league's growing out there.
“You see it, there's more money getting put into it. There's bigger names coming out that, you know, aren't just coming out for retirement. I think it's a good place for me to be.”
In other words, no comfort zone. Not for a centre-back who spends most weekends staring down the most expensive players on the pitch.
Messi, Miami And A Long Night
The clearest example of that came against Inter Miami and a certain Lionel Messi, now retired from international duty but still the benchmark.
“I don't know if I enjoy being up against Messi like that, but we had a good night that night,” Porteous admitted.
“But that was one where you just could never settle. We managed to get the win, so I'll take that.
“You're playing against world-class players. Even if you take Messi out of it, you're still playing against probably good Premier League forwards with the amount of money that these guys are getting paid.
“So, for me, it's playing at that level all the time and being used to coming up against these top players.”
Those are the battles that harden a defender. Tracking late runs from No 10s, wrestling with strikers who have seen it all, defending space against wingers who can take you inside or out. The kind of education that does not come from training drills alone.
Back In Dark Blue
Now the benefits of that schooling are back on Scotland’s doorstep.
Porteous’ last cap came against Greece in March 2025. At 27, he is not a prospect anymore; he is a defender in his prime, recalled by Sebastien Pocognoli after an injury to Swansea City’s Stephen Welsh opened a door.
He knows the stakes. He also knows he is not alone in trying to impress a relatively new international manager.
“That's the same as everyone,” he said. “The manager is probably still figuring out who he wants to select and he's given boys an opportunity in most games.
“For me, it's all about just putting in a good representation of myself and being professional and doing what I do.”
No grand promises. Just a clear sense that he belongs in that conversation.
Glasgow Awaits
On Friday, North Macedonia come to Glasgow. It is the kind of night that can quietly reshape an international career – not a tournament, not a glamour friendly, but a fixture where trust is either won or lost.
Porteous arrives with form behind him, fitness intact and a body of work built far from home. From Dalkeith to Pasadena, via Leith and Vicarage Road, he has learned to handle pressure, travel and some of the best attacking players money can buy.
If he forces his way back into the Scotland XI, recent history suggests one thing: the man from Midlothian will not be easy to move.
