When Alex Scott made his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That statement turned out to be a bit of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the full Three Lions squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star 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 becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the top division and playing for England as well,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, 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 traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of that experience. To have that slice of youth again was something I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Making a comeback to the pro ranks
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at the club, remarked last year.
Within three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the club, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent of the starting XI.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a formidable understanding in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying football, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
