Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and representing England too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my loved ones.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood back was a thing I really required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut against Luton.
He went on to make eighty-three league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked last year.
Within three months after, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
