When the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full England team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against Luton.
He made 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
