When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s 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.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was something I really required.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”
At the age of 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 match at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.
He went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked last year.
Within 90 days after, he signed for the Cherries for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”