When Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was a thing I definitely required.
“Building some self-belief by returning and taking part in local football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important factors that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their 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 side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott made eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in every game to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
