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When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”

That prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.

Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions team.

His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern game.

What’s next? The World Cup?

“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott said previously.

“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”

So in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?

Developing in the lower tiers

Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.

He was part of over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each 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 Saints’ youth teams.

Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.

Rather, he chose to stay on the island and play for his local team.

“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.

“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I really required.

“To gain some confidence by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things that got 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 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 Tony Vance stated back then.

“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”

Returning to the pro ranks

Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.

“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.

“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”

In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.

Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.

Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.

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

“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.

Less than three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of £25m.

Getting his big move

The midfielder endured a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.

His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.

“There was quite a good run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.

“It was almost another setback and the year was turning out to be 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 in time.

He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.

And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.

“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.

“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”