When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full England squad.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and representing the national team as well,” the player stated in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for myself and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries were willing to offer Scott an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Rather, he chose to stay on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood again was something I definitely needed.
“To gain some self-belief by coming back and taking part in local football was massive for me. It was probably one of the most important factors that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“Midweek I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within a year and a half, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his skill to carry the ball up the pitch, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, stated last year.
Within three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“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 selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and managed to regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they claimed victory in the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in midfield with his teammate, who himself has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for his club, featuring in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my life,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and get my chance.”
