When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden call-up to the full England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to possible England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, let alone playing in the top division and representing the national team too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Developing in the lower tiers
His path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He spent over four years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart was not in it.
Rather, he opted to stay on Guernsey and turn out for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over weekly was becoming a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly four and a half years of doing that. Getting that slice of youth again was a thing I really required.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager the coach stated back then.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the way he runs with the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring his development after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a try-out in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “Day one I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, travelled back and by Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Even at that young age 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 picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the second tier’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked previously.
Within 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood fee of £25m.
Securing his big move
The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the starting XI.
His following season was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost 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 get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who himself has excelled for the senior side under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my career,” the player said earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I impress the England manager and get my chance.”
