When Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
That statement turned out 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 squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a true throwback, a story seldom told in the modern era.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and representing England too,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has not been a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could attend training and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott 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 the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“To gain a bit of confidence by returning and taking part in local football was massive for me. That proved to be perhaps one of the most important things that led me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach commented at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an promising start in adult football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “Day one I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I played for his local side in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against the Hatters.
Scott made 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the division’s team of the year 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,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, stated previously.
Less than three months after, he joined Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
Scott endured a challenging debut campaign with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was equally affected, this time by a knee operation which sidelined him for nearly 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 Scott.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” the player said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, keep enjoying the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
