Back when Alex Scott made his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Today 22 years old and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his first call-up to the full England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a proper blast from the past, a story seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was no chance of becoming a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and playing for the national team as well,” the player stated previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
But in what way did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in non-league
Scott’s path in football has been far from a conventional one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to travel by air from his island home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the club’s academy sides.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth gave him an opportunity and he was on the Cherries’ books for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and play for his hometown club.
“I wasn’t playing very well and traveling every week was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that slice of youth back was a thing I definitely needed.
“Building some self-belief by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I had sleepless nights because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the side because his talent is obvious,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – owned by islander their owner – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in adult football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” recalled Scott. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
He went on to make 83 league appearances for the club while in his teens, often being used as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his versatility and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was voted the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent England and I think he’ll go on to the pinnacle of the game,” Nigel Pearson, the player’s manager at the club, remarked previously.
Less than three months later, he signed for Bournemouth for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until October to make his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the starting XI.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained he.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was shaping up as a pretty bad year for the first half.”
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 formidable understanding in the middle with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign equally as strongly for his club, featuring in every game to help 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 continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving day on day, and with luck I impress the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
