When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the senior England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper throwback, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
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 each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring his development after an promising start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty 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 senior debut versus Luton.
He went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – 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 the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” Scott stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
