Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 fans in 2019, his manager back then assured, “there’s more to come from this boy.”
That prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his first summons to the senior Three Lions team.
His rise from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely 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 representing the national team too,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and things have transformed completely for myself and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.
He spent four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup starting at eight, skipping school every Friday to fly from his island home on the Channel Island to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they decided to let him go. The Cherries were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, as he later admitted, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Instead, he opted to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at home with my mates at weekends because I missed almost four and a half years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing island football was huge for me. It was probably the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the most youthful appearance-maker in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their Isthmian League fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” Guernsey boss Tony Vance stated at the time.
“Everyone’s now seen that – his possession of the ball is outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander their owner – had been tracking Scott’s development after an impressive start in men’s football and arranged a trial in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled the player. “The first day I joined the youth team, the second day I trained with the senior squad, which was a total surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for Bristol City Under-18s and netted a three goals. It was almost a done deal for me to put pen to paper on a contract.”
In just 18 months, still well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut against Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league outings for the club while in his teens, often being deployed as a wing-back – and occasionally in attack as a number 10 – such was his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
With his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he claimed the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s boss at the club, remarked previously.
Within three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a difficult first season with the Cherries, waiting until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as affected, this time by a knee operation which ruled him out for almost four months.
“There was quite a good run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and the year was shaping up as quite a terrible start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by the national team for the U21 Euros – and managed to regain fitness for the tournament.
He started five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started the current campaign just as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“Representing the England senior team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player stated earlier this season.
“The responsibility is mine, I must keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better every day, and with luck I impress the national coach and get my chance.”