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 youngster.”
This statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and playing for England too,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood back was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing local football was massive for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker 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 figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” said Scott. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
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. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Less than three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a strong understanding in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
