When the young midfielder made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his first summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and playing for the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of 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 mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood back was something I really needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that led 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 came on as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal 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 eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role 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 ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to 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 award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was 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 U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
