When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This statement proved to be something of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood again was a thing I really required.
“Building some self-belief by returning and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England 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 claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
