When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first summons to the full Three Lions squad.
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.
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 representing the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I really required.
“Building a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive 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 second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
He made 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – 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 the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within three months later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four 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.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad 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 in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
