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When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”

That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.

Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the full England team.

His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern era.

What’s next? The World Cup?

“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” Scott said in a recent interview.

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

So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?

Learning in non-league

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

He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at 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.

Before 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, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.

Instead, he opted to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.

“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.

“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.

“Building a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that got me to this point.”

When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.

“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.

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

Returning to the professional game

Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.

“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.

“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”

Within a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus the Hatters.

Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.

With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.

At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.

“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated last year.

Within 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.

Getting his big move

The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.

His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.

“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, 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 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 succeeded in regain fitness for the tournament.

He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong understanding in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.

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

“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.

“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”