When Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of childhood back was something I really required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising beginning in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” said Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and it was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the senior side with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
