When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his first summons to the full Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to possible international star is a true blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind playing in the Premier League and playing for the national team too,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
So in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself at this level?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has been far from a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an opportunity and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was starting to feel a bit too much,” he recalled.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my mates at the weekend because I had missed almost four and a half years of that experience. Getting that slice of youth again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing local football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial things that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the team because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Championship side the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the youth team, the next day I trained with the first team, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I featured for his local side in the capital, returned home and by Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to sign a deal.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut against the Hatters.
Scott made eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, 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 their best player.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to Manchester City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the league’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than 90 days later, he joined the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott endured a difficult first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his top-flight debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself inconsistent 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.
“There was quite a good run at the end of last season, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet 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 for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a strong understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started this season equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in all matches to guide them to the top five in the table.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and hopefully I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”