When Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team too,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. The Cherries gave Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood again was a thing I really required.
“To gain a bit of self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a contract.”
Within a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With 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 reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player honour, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’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 top of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Less than 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, waiting until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and it was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
