Alex Scott already knows what he wants to achieve in the long-term as a footballer.
Playing in the Premier League and representing his country are on his career to-do list as he continues to tick off his goals and accomplishments following a brilliant breakthrough season.
After making one league start last campaign, Scott's emergence into the first-team has only encapsulated the potential and belief that the club have a star player on their hands. Even for the midfielder, the amount of games he has featured this season has come as a surprise to him.
He was thrown into the deep end under the circumstances in a sink or swim environment and has come out the other end clutching the club's Young Player of the Year award and his name on the list of a group of interested Premier League scouts.
At the beginning of the season, Scott admitted that he would have been happy just to feature 10 times. His next goal is to become the first name on the team sheet by the beginning of next season - the fact that Scott already has his short-term and long-term goals set out is a sign of maturity in itself.
There's is no doubt that if Scott continues his current trajectory of progress he could one day be lining up alongside Phil Foden and Mason Mount - the two players he idolises his game on - instead of watching them. He would also be just the third player born in Guernsey to represent the Three Lions behind Matt Le Tissier and Graeme Le Saux.
In Thursday's interviews with the media, Scott further endeared himself to supporters with a series of brilliant, well-thought-out and natural responses to questions about his season and what the future holds.
Quite typically with footballers, having been media trained from a young age, answers can be generic and predictable almost verging on robotic. "I'm not focusing on the future, we still have two games left, it's not about me it's about the team," etc, etc - you get the gist.
However, Scott's responses felt completely genuine, particularly when asked about the increasing transfer speculation surrounding his future beyond the summer. Six Premier League clubs have been linked with Scott this summer in Everton, Leicester, West Ham and more recently Tottenham, Leeds and Norwich although they'll undoubtedly be a few more lurking in the shadows.
It doesn't take a footballing genius to work out that any move to a top-flight club, especially in the ilk of Spurs, Leicester and West Ham, is likely to be reflected in a rather generous wage increase as well as the added perks of being part of a Premier League club.
Scott's hardly going to come out and say "I see my future beyond this level and therefore I want to earn the big bucks", even if there was some truth behind it. At the end of the day, all footballers have ambition and it's fair to say most people in every profession would naturally leave one job for another if there is more money to be made.
But Scott knows that will come for him at some point in the future and knows there is no rush to get there. His career is a glass ceiling and what was more than encouraging during his media appearance was the fact that he is solely focused to continue his learning and playing regular football for Bristol City.
Everything else that follows will fall into place naturally and there is no doubt that he has the right people behind him to provide advice which will steer his career in the best possible direction.
One comment, in particular, stuck out on Thursday when he said: "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."
It was a brilliant response, honest in his appraisal that playing Premier League football remains his goal but pointing out that the rigours of playing Championship football, in an unfamiliar position of a wing-back, is giving him the learning curve of making the step up when he feels is right.
If there was ever a positive sign that Scott is in no rush to look elsewhere then that was it. Manager Nigel Pearson is renowned for his attributes of managing young players and dealing with players on a level playing field despite their ability and age.
We do have to be realistic in the fact that every player has a price tag and with City's financial position, selling players in the calibre of Scott for a healthy profit is just part and parcel of the game.
There is no rush to cash in with a contract in play until the summer of 2025 - albeit having agreed on a deal at the beginning of the campaign, Scott would be in every right to be asking for an improvement to his terms following his season he has delivered and interest generated.
City are expected to receive an offer or two, if they haven't already, for Scott but they have plenty of negotiating power at their disposal considering the length of contract and clubs interested.
Much would also depend on the futures of team-mates Han-Noah Massengo and Antoine Semenyo who are also likely to be under the transfer microscope this summer with City's need to raise some much-needed cash to help reinvest in the squad.
Although among all the uncertainty surrounding the futures of certain players and the club's finances next season, solace can be taken in the fact that Scott is more than happy to stay both to his and the club's benefit.
Whatever happens to him going forward, the player has already done himself and the club proud.
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