Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first summons to the senior England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for England as well,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my family.”
So how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I really needed.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Within three months later, he signed for the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another setback and it was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
