Back when the young midfielder made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his first summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the Premier League and representing the national team as well,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was something I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in local football was huge for me. It was perhaps one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league match 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,” Guernsey boss the coach commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem 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.
“There was a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke 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 the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started this season just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
