When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries 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 chose to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that slice of childhood again was something I definitely needed.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his development after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial 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 his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Within three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year 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 for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, getting better day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
