Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I really needed.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and playing local football was massive for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring 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 way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, often being used as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in the middle 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 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 occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
