Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement proved to be a bit of an understatement.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the full England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely seen in the modern era.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for England too,” Scott stated in a recent interview.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
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 turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of that experience. Getting that little bit of youth back was something I definitely needed.
“Building some confidence by coming back and playing island football was huge 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 became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the division’s best XI and was named the club’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s manager at the club, stated last year.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, waiting until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly four months.
“I had a decent run at the close of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost 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 Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in 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, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
