🔗 Share this article

Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”

That prediction turned out to be a bit of an understatement.

Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full England squad.

His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a true blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern era.

Next stop? A major tournament?

“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player said in a recent interview.

“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my family.”

But how did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?

Learning in the lower tiers

Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.

He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early 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.

Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.

Rather, he opted to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.

“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.

“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood back was a thing I really needed.

“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”

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 second-half replacement in their league match at the opposition.

“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.

“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring his early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.

“It was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the first team, which was a total surprise.

“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”

Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.

Scott made 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.

With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Grealish.

By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.

“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked previously.

Within three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.

Securing his major transfer

The midfielder experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.

His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.

“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.

“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first half.”

But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.

He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.

And he has started this season equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.

“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my life,” the player stated recently.

“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”