Back when Alex Scott made his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and representing the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
But how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, 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 starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of childhood back was something I definitely needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side Bristol City – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” said Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus Luton.
He went on to make 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Less than 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad 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 Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
