When Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial things that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian 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 Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession 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 Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness 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 the middle with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
