Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut versus Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 fans in 2019, his coach back then assured, “there’s more to come from this youngster.”
This statement turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Now aged 22 and an established top-flight player with Bournemouth, the midfielder has just received his maiden summons to the full England team.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper throwback, a journey seldom seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“In my mind, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind playing in the top division and representing England too,” the player said in a recent interview.
“It’s been a crazy half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed drastically for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Alex Scott, known affectionately as the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, end up here?
Developing in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and play for the club’s academy sides.
Before he turned 13, though, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an option and he remained with them for a time, but, as he later admitted, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on the island and turn out for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well 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 that experience. Getting that slice of youth again was something I really needed.
“To gain some self-belief by returning and playing local football was massive for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that got me to this point.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a second-half substitute in their Isthmian League match at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could get him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance stated back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is exceptional, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club the Robins – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking Scott’s early progress after an impressive start in adult football and arranged a try-out in December 2019.
“The whole experience was hectic,” said Scott. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I was with the senior squad, which was a complete shock.
“On the Wednesday I played for Guernsey FC in London, travelled back and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and scored a hat-trick. It was almost a certainty for me to sign a contract.”
Within 18 months, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott made 83 league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being used as a wide defender – and sometimes further forward as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Even at that young age and not in his natural role he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a reference to City and England playmaker Grealish.
By the conclusion of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was chosen in the league’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I think he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within three months later, he joined Bournemouth for a reported fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His second campaign was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly four months.
“I had quite a good run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” explained Scott.
“That felt like almost another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in regain fitness in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong partnership in midfield with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team under the national coach.
And he has begun the current campaign just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my life,” Scott stated recently.
“It’s down to me, I must continue developing as a footballer, keep enjoying the game, getting better every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and get my chance.”
