Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his first call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he opted to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood again was something I definitely needed.
“Building some confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important things 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 second-half replacement in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being used as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing 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 the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out 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 he.
“That felt like yet another setback and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
