When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
This statement proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom told in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a professional football player, never mind playing in the top division and playing for England too,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for me and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, find himself here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of over four years in the Saints’ academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to travel by air from his home on Guernsey to the south coast so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to he turned 13, though, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to remain on the island and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that little bit of youth again was a thing I really needed.
“Building some self-belief by returning and taking part in island football was massive for me. That proved to be probably one of the most important things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, the teenager became the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having 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 back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the way he runs with 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 gave him a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the first team, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for his local side in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
He made 83 league outings for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and national team playmaker Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s best XI and was named Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I think he’ll play for his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s boss at the club, stated previously.
Less than 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder experienced a difficult first season with the club, waiting until the autumn to make his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then called up by the national team 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 claimed victory in the competition in Slovakia, developing a formidable partnership in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be one of the proudest moments of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
