When the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott 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.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that little bit of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by returning and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
Scott made 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” the player stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
