Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey seldom seen in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England too,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
So in what way did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries gave 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.
Rather, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian 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 commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking his development after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, 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 played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated previously.
Within three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.
“There was quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the senior side under the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
