When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first call-up to the full England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and representing England too,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I really needed.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday 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 done deal for me to sign a deal.”
Within 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack 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 voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
