Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out 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 summons to the full England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott said previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave him an option 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 traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth back was something I definitely required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Within three months later, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
