Back when the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was something I really required.
“Building some confidence by returning and playing island football was massive for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping 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 retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point 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 Luton.
Scott made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’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 believe 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 Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Less than three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood 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 Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
