When the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain some confidence by returning and taking part in island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
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 57th-minute substitute in their 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 his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an promising start in men’s football and arranged 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 trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’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 top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in all matches to help them to the top five in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
