Bristol City wonderkid Alex Scott has gone from having ambitions to play 10-games in a season for the Robins to dreaming of pulling on the England shirt one day in the future.
The 18-year-old has enjoyed a wonderful breakthrough season, playing 36 times in the Championship having earned the trust of manager Nigel Pearson to be thrown into the deep end to play in a number of positions.
The centre-midfielder has found himself playing at right wing-back for large parts of the campaign - a position Scott is more than happy to help out in for now - and his stock has dramatically risen considering the increasing transfer speculation over his future.
Scott, who made one league start last season, has been surprised with the amount of football and opportunities presented to him and there is likely to be no rest for the wicked with an inevitable call-up to the England Under-19 Euros tournament on the horizon in June.
While the midfielder admitted he can't wait to represent his country, he has loftier ambitions to play for the senior team - a development from his goal to play a handful of matches for the Robins.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's match with Hull, he said: "I think at the moment and the way it's going, my dream would be to play for England.
"Especially playing in the younger age groups and you see the first team players sometimes when you're there and it's a big dream for me to play for England as I progress.
"Maybe at the start of the season, it would have just been playing as many games as I can for Bristol City. I didn't expect to be playing so many games. I'd have been happy with 10.
"Now for the next season it would be to start every game and be the first name on the team-sheet and that would be my main objective. But for the rest of my career, it would be to play for England.
"I probably won't get much of a break this summer so hopefully, I'll get a call-up to my country this summer.
"Playing for your country is always a proud moment, whether it be a friendly or a qualifying game, I'll just be proud to wear the England shirt so it will be that one step forward to play at a major tournament for England."
Scott's performances and potential have been one of the shining lights throughout a long and, at parts, a difficult Bristol City season. It has not gone unnoticed and just in the last week Tottenham, Norwich and Leeds have been linked with a summer move for his signature.
Earlier in the season, Everton, Leicester and West Ham were speculated to be watching Scott and while he naturally admitted his ambitions to be a Premier League player, he refuses to get dragged into the rumours and instead insists his future is better served playing regular football at Ashton Gate.
"You can hear the noise, you know the noise is there but I just try to get on with my football," he added.
"We've still got two games left to play so I just want to finish the season strongly and put myself in the best position for the Euros in the summer if I get picked. I try my best to ignore it, I don't read anything on social media so I think that's the best way to keep it.
"The opportunities that I'm getting here and with the gaffer and what he's doing for me this season, I'm very grateful for it.
"Moving to a Premier League team now or a bigger team you're only going to playing Under-23s or sitting on the bench so I think playing week-in-week-out now is definitely benefitting me.
"In the future maybe I'll push on and play in the Premier League, hopefully with Bristol City but playing week-in-week-out is definitely the best thing for me."
Bristol City moved quickly to sign Scott to a new contract at the beginning of the season, tying him down on a long-term deal until the summer of 2025.
There would be no surprise considering the impact he has had on the team this season and the Premier League interest if City moved to improve his current terms but Scott admits there have been no talks as of yet to reward him with a new contract.
"There hasn't been yet (talks)," he added. "Obviously I've signed a four-year contract at the start of the season so we'll see how that goes, I've still got three more years here so I'm very comfortable at Bristol City at the moment."
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