When the young midfielder made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and representing England as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” 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. Getting that little bit of childhood back was something I really needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries 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 early progress after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty 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 making his senior debut versus Luton.
He made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the club, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him 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 he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, 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,” the player stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
