Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper throwback, a story seldom seen in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing England as well,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Developing in non-league
His path in football has not been a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season 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 think he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at the club, remarked previously.
Within three months after, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
