When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for me and my loved ones.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional 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 home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“Building a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been tracking his development after an promising beginning in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
He made 83 league outings for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Within 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a challenging debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season just as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott said recently.
“It’s down to me, 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.”
