Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood back was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point 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 against the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Less than three months after, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly four months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started this season just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” the player stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
