When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full England team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing England too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was something I definitely required.
“To gain some confidence by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months later, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding 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 started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
