When the young midfielder made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, referred to fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Instead, he opted to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he explained.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and playing island football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became 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 had trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by Guernsey resident Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “Day one I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while still a teenager, often being used as a wing-back – and occasionally further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was their best player.
With his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was chosen in the league’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within 90 days after, he joined Bournemouth for a understood fee of 25 million pounds.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His following season was just as affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost several months.
“There was a decent run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost another setback and the year was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit for the tournament.
He started five of the England U21s’ 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 gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign just as impressively for his club, playing in all matches to help them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to continue developing as a footballer, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and hopefully I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
