Back when Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his Guernsey debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his coach at the time assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior England squad.
His rise from eighth-tier talent to possible international star is a true throwback, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was no chance of making it as a professional football player, let alone featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” the player said previously.
“It’s been a crazy five or six years of my life, and things have changed drastically for myself and my family.”
But how did Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself here?
Learning in non-league
Scott’s football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in the Saints’ youth system from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to fly from his island home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, though, they released him. Bournemouth were willing to offer him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he chose to remain on Guernsey and turn out for his local team.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was starting to feel overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at my home with my friends at weekends because I missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that slice of childhood back was something I definitely required.
“Building a bit of confidence by coming back and playing island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial things that got me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he was introduced as a 57th-minute substitute in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having 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 outstanding, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the professional game
Second-tier club Bristol City – chaired by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s early progress after an promising beginning in adult football and gave him a trial in late 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I joined the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“On the Wednesday I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and scored 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 making his first-team debut against the Hatters.
He made 83 league outings for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – such was his versatility and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he picked up the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a reference to Manchester City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player honour, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“Without question, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he will progress to the top of the sport,” his former manager, Scott’s boss at the club, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
Getting his big move
Scott endured a difficult first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee injury in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was equally affected, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of the previous campaign, which was good to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said Scott.
“That felt like yet another obstacle and it was turning out to be a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by the national team for the U21 Euros – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He went on to start five of the Young Lions’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, forming a formidable understanding in the middle with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team with the national coach.
And he has started the current campaign just as impressively for his club, playing in every game to help them to fifth in the table.
“Representing the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” the player said recently.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for football, improving every day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and get my chance.”
