Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for me and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has been far from a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood again was a thing I really required.
“To gain some self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a three goals. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, frequently being used as a wide defender – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at the club, remarked previously.
Less than 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
