When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his first call-up to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely seen in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player said previously.
“It has been a crazy five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for me and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has been far from a conventional one.
He spent over four 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 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 while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of youth back was a thing I really needed.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss the coach commented back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
Within 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was the standout performer.
Thanks to 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 Manchester City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the second tier’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within three months after, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his big move
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, 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 year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
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 partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special moments of my career,” Scott said earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
