Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. Getting that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another setback and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season just as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
