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When the young midfielder made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

This prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.

Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.

His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a true blast from the past, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.

Next stop? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” Scott said in a recent interview.

“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”

So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?

Learning in the lower tiers

Scott’s 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 every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.

Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option 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 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 the weekend because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. To have that slice of childhood back was something I really required.

“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”

When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated back then.

“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.

“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.

“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, 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 contract.”

Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.

He made eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.

Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.

“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated previously.

Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.

Getting his major transfer

Scott endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.

His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly several months.

“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.

“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”

But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.

He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, forming a formidable understanding 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 just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to help 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 earlier this season.

“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”