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 coach 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 a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to stay on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood back was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – 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 carry the ball up the pitch, 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.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.
Less than three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team 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 games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
