Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the full England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a true throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and representing England as well,” Scott stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
But how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood back was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager the coach commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, stated previously.
Less than 90 days after, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year 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 get himself fit in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, 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 occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
