Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the full England squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a true blast from the past, a story seldom told in the modern era.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for me and my family.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth again was something I really required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in island football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
With his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, 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 nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another obstacle and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
