When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood back was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by returning and playing local football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
He went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury 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 nearly four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for his club, 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 moments of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
