Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his first summons to the senior England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really required.
“Building some confidence by returning and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back 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 put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked previously.
Within 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in all matches to help them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
