Back when the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the full England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really needed.
“Building some confidence by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
Within 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position 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 ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, stated previously.
Less than three months after, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ 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 with the national coach.
And he has started this season just as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing 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.”