Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the senior England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for England too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that slice of youth again was something I definitely required.
“Building some self-belief by returning and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising beginning in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than three months later, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
