Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing England as well,” the player said previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to remain on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of childhood again was something I really required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that led 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 match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
