Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden summons to the senior England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and representing the national team as well,” Scott stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
So how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a while, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth again was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Making a comeback to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an promising start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make 83 league appearances 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.
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 nod to Manchester City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then being in and out of the team.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was turning out to be quite a terrible year for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for his club, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
