Back when the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 fans in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a true blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s path in football has not been a conventional one.
He spent four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and turn out for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth back was something I really needed.
“Building some confidence by returning and playing island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial factors that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the most youthful appearance-maker in Guernsey’s history when he came on as a second-half replacement in their league match at Phoenix Sports.
“I had trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could get him in the team because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance 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 pro ranks
Championship side the Robins – chaired by Guernsey resident their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by 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 deal.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott made 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and not in his natural role he was their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the sport,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than three months later, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“It was yet another setback and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving day on day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
